THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


KENTUCKIANS    IN    HISTORY 
AND    LITERATURE 


Kentuckians  in  History 
and  Literature 


By 
JOHN  WILSON    TOWNSEN1) 


Author  of 
Richard  Hickman  Menefee  ' ' 


NEW   YORK   AND   WASHINGTON 
THE    NEALE     PUBLISHING    COMPANY 

1907 


COPYRIGHT,  1907,  BY 
THE  NEALE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


To 
H.  S.  J. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

h;    THE  FIRST  KENTUCKY  NOVELIST  .                   .  11 
11 

KENTUCKIANS  IN  THE  HALLS  OF  FAME            .  27 

*s" 

A  FORGOTTEN  SINGER          .          .  39 

3    THE  FIRST  KENTUCKY  HISTORIAN           .          .  57 

A  FEW  OF  BARRY'S  LETTERS         .  69 

THE  FIRST  KENTUCKY  POET         ...  87 

in     OLD  KING  SOLOMON  .....  103 

THE  FILSON  CLUB       .....  Ill 

THE  KENTUCKY  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY     .          .  125 

HAS  KENTUCKY  PRODUCED  A  POET?      .          .  135 

o      CHIVERS    ......          .  153 

*      ONE  WORD  MORE  171 

o 


"  KENTUCKY  as  she  was ;  Kentucky  as  she  is ; 
Kentucky  as  she  will  be;  Kentucky  forever." 
These  words  of  Chief-Justice  Kobertson  ex- 
press a  sentiment  that  is  dear  to  me.  And 
because  of  this  love  for  Kentucky,  these  re- 
searches into  her  literature  and  history  have 
been  made  and  are  now  given  to  the  world  for 
whatever  they  may  be  worth.  As  nearly  all  of 
the  essays  deal  with  the  founders  and  perfect- 
ers  of  our  history  and  literature,  they  must,  of 
necessity,  overlap.  No  apology  is  made  for 
this:  the  sympathetic  reader  will  understand. 
Practically  all  of  the  studies  have  required 
research,  effort — the  most  fascinating,  labori- 
ous, and  disappointing  of  literary  labor;  and 
they  have  also  required  Col.  K.  T.  Durrett's 
wonderful  library  of  Kentuckiana.  Mr.  Madi- 
son Cawein,  Louisville,  Kentucky;  Mr.  Mont- 
gomery Blair,  Washington,  D.  C. ;  Hon. 
William  Nelson,  Secretary  of  the  New  Jersey 
Historical  Society,  and  Mrs.  Jennie  C.  Mor- 
ton, Secretary  of  the  Kentucky  Historical  So- 
ciety, have  assisted  me  in  making  the  essays 
reliable,  and  I  have  done  my  best  to  make 
them  readable. 


1 0  Preface 

One  of  the  essays  was  published  in  the  St. 
Louis  Globe-Democrat  last  summer;  two  have 
appeared  in  the  Kentucky  Historical  Society's 
publication,  The  Register;  and  four  of  them 
were  printed  in  The  Transylvanian,  the  Ken- 
tucky University  paper.  These  seven  essays 
have  been  greatly  revised  and  augmented,  and 
five  new  ones  added,  which  are  now  published 
for  the  first  time  in  "  Kentuckians  in  History 
and  Literature." 

J.  W.  T. 

LEXINGTON,  KENTUCKY,  May  24,  1907. 


THE    FIRST    KENTUCKY    NOVELIST 


THE    FIRST    KENTUCKY    NOVELIST 

MEN  are  to-day  more  interested  in  literary  crea- 
tions than  they  are  in  literary  creators.  "  It 
will  always  be  found  more  just,"  says  an 
American  critic  of  authority,  "  as  well  as  more 
generous,  to  judge  a  man's  life  by  his  book 
than  to  judge  his  book  by  his  life."  Yet  it  is 
natural  that  one  should  desire  to  know  the 
salient  facts  in  the  life  of  an  author  whose 
work  has  interested  one,  even  though  those 
facts  do  not  throw  additional  light  upon  the 
production  in  hand.  With  this  position 
granted,  I  shall  relate  the  biography  of  Ken- 
tucky's first  novelist,  a  life  that  was  utterly 
devoid  of  virtue,  together  with  a  discussion  of 
his  novel  and  history. 

Gilbert  Imlay,  the  first  Kentucky  novelist, 
was  born  in  New  Jersey  in  or  about  1755.  His 
father  was  Peter  Imlay,  a  son  of  Robert  Imlay, 
who  died  in  1750  at  Upper  Freehold,  Mon- 
mouth  County,  New  Jersey.  Gilbert  Imlay's 
grandmother,  Mary  Imlay,  dying  in  1754,  re- 
ferred to  him  in  her  will.  Of  Imlay's  mother 
not  even  her  name  has  been  saved  to  history, 
but  his  brother  Robert  died  in  1822. 

Imlay  was  captain  of  a  New  Jersey  corn- 
is 


1-i        KentucJcians  in  History  and  Literature 

pany  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  After  its 
termination  he  probably  returned  to  his  home 
to  bid  his  parents  farewell,  and  in  1784  he  ar- 
rived in  Kentucky.  He  was  appointed  "  a 
commissioner  for  laying  out  lands  in  the  back 
settlements,"  and  worked  under  George  May 
at  Louisville. 

A  letter  in  regard  to  Imlay,  from  the  notori- 
ous Gen.  James  Wilkinson  to  Mathew  Irvine, 
is  preserved  in  the  Emmet  Collection  of  Manu- 
scripts, in  the  Xew  York  Public  Library. 

"  CARLISLE,  September  28,  1784. 
"Dear  Sir: 

"  Your  affairs  with  Mr.  Imlay  remain  in  the 
same  situation  they  did  when  I  last  wrote  you 
—however  I  expect  by  my  return  that  Mr.  Im- 
lay must  have  procured  unequivocal  Titles 
sufficient  to  take  up  his  Bonds — if  he  has,  the 
Business  will  be  immediately  closed,  otherwise 
it  will  remain  in  its  present  situation — for 
were  I  to  push  or  expose  Imlay  in  his  present 
critical  situation,  ruin  would  come  upon  him 
and  you  would  lose  your  property,  probably 
forever — depend,  Sir,  on  my  fidelity  and  at- 
tention, and  be  assured  I  am  Your  obliged  and 
obedient  servant, 

"  JAMES  WILKINSON. 

"  MATHEW  IRVINE,  ESQ." 


The  First  Kentucky  Novelist  15 

During  the  years  1785,  1786  patents  were  is- 
sued to  Imlay  for  24,171  acres  of  land  located 
in  Fayette  and  Jefferson  Counties,  Kentucky. 
Also,  in  Jefferson  County,  in  partnership  with 
the  famous  Light  Horse  Harry  Lee,  he  held 
1200  acres,  and  with  John  Holder,  4023  acres. 
Within  a  few  months,  however,  Wilkinson  and 
Lee  had  either  bought  or  sold  all  of  his  Ken- 
tucky holdings,  and  in  1786  Imlay  gave  a 
power  of  attorney  for  the  sale  of  his  lands  in 
New  Jersey. 

As  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  Gil- 
bert Imlay  lived  in  Kentucky  for  nearly  eight 
years.  It  is  not  positively  known  when  he  left 
America  for  Europe,  but  it  was  late  in  1791  or 
early  in  1792 ;  for  in  1792  the  first  edition  of 
his  "  Topographical  Description  of  the  West- 
ern Territory  of  North  America  "  was  pub- 
lished at  London.  In  the  following  year  it  was 
reprinted  at  New  York,  and  also  translated 
into  German  by  E.  A.  W.  Zimmerman  and 
brought  out  in  Berlin.  An  enlarged  edition, 
containing  John  Filson's  history,  Thomas 
Hutchins's  "  Descriptions,"  and  much  addi- 
tional material,  was  issued  in  1795.  A  second 
enlarged  edition  appeared  two  years  later.  It 
is,  after  Filson's,  Fitzroy's,  and  Toulmin's,  the 
fourth  history  of  Kentucky. 

The    "  Topographical    Description "    is    all 


16       Kentuckians  m  History  and  Literature 

that  a  monograph  on  a  new  country  should  be. 
The  epistolary  form  was  adopted,  the  book 
containing  eleven  letters  written  from  Ken- 
tucky to  a  friend  in  England.  Through  his 
friend,  Imlay  told  the  world  about  Kentucky's 
salubrious  climate,  her  rich  soil,  her  customs, 
etc.,  treating  them  exhaustively.  In  the  ninth 
letter  he  crossed  swords  with  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son, coining  out  flat-footed  in  favor  of  marriage 
between  the  white  and  black  races.  It  will 
take  time  for  the  world  to  accept  amalgama- 
tion, but  the  world  will  become  as  enlightened 
on  this  subject  as  I  am,  ultimately.  This  is 
Imlay's  position,  stated  without  his  clever 
rhetoric.  One  ceases,  after  having  read  the 
ninth  letter  of  the  "  Description,"  to  wonder 
that  Imlay  would  deceive  a  woman. 

In  1793  Imlay  laid  before  the  French  Direc- 
tory plans  for  the  capturing  of  New  Orleans  by 
the  French,  and  the  ease  with  which  they  could 
enlist  men  from  Kentucky  in  support  of  their 
project.  Wilkinson  had  made  similar  repre- 
sentations to  the  French  Minister  in  the  United 
States  in  1792.  "  ITis  suggestion  that  the 
French  might  take  possession  of  all  the  coun- 
try west  of  the  Alleghanies  would  seem  to 
show  that  Imlay  and  Wilkinson  were,  in  a 
measure,  the  forerunners  of  Aaron  Burr's 
scheme  of  a  dozen  years  later." 

It  was  while  living  in  this  State  that  Gilbert 


The  First  Kentucky  Novelist  17 

I  ml  ay  wrote  the  first  novel  ever  written  in  Ken- 
tucky, lie  took  the  manuscript  with  him  to 
London,  whore  it  was  published  in  1793.  It 
is  entitled  "  The  Emigrants,  or  the  History  of 
an  Expatriated  Family,  being  a  delineation  of 
English  manners  drawn  from  real  characters. 
Written  in  America,  by  G.  Imlay,  Esq."  It  is 
the  story  of  a  Mr.  T — n  and  his  family  of  one 
son  and  three  daughters.  The  real  heroine 
of  "  The  Emigrants  "  is  the  most  beautiful  and 
charming  of  the  daughters,  Caroline.  Mr. 
T — n  was  a  wealthy  London  merchant  who 
suddenly  lost,  his  fortune  and  was  compelled  to 
emigrate  to  America.  First  settling  in  Phila- 
delphia, he  moved  to  Pittsburg  and  thence 
down  the  Ohio  River  to  Louisville.  "  The  Emi- 
grants "  was  published  in  three  small  volumes 
and  bound  in  marbled  calf.  The  second  vol- 
ume may  be  called  the  real  Kentucky  one. 
Tn  it  are  recounted  the  experiences  of  the  ex- 
patriated family  in  this  State.  When  they 
arrived  in  Louisville  they  found  that  Caroline's 
lover,  Captain  Arl — ton,  had  gone  to  Lexing- 
ton, but  a  letter  from  his  friend,  who  was  man- 
aging his  affair  with  Caroline,  brought  him 
quickly  upon  the  scene.  The  emigrants  re- 
mained in  Kentucky  from  Juno  until  August. 
During  the  latter  month  Caroline  was  cap- 
tured by  Indians,  but  was  safely  rescued.  In 
the  third  and  final  volume  the  family's  return 


18        Kentucklans  m  History  and  Literature 

to  Europe  is  related,  and  all  ends  well.  "  The 
Emigrants  "  is  most  interesting ;  more  so  than 
many  of  the  six  best  sellers  of  the  present  time. 
"  In  accord  with  the  fictional  fashion  of  its 
day,  it  bears  the  epistolary  form." 

A  comprehensive  review  of  "  The  Emi- 
grants "  appeared  in  the  London  Monthly  Re- 
view for  August,  1793,  and  is  as  follows: 

"  In  a  novel  written  by  the  intelligent  and 
lively  author  of  the  topographical  description 
of  the  western  territory  of  America,  the  public 
will  naturally  look  for  something  more  than  a 
sentimental  tale;  and  we  can  assure  our  read- 
ers that  they  will  find  in  these  volumes  many 
things  which  are  not  commonly  to  be  perceived 
in  writings  of  this  class.  Not  that  the  author 
is  incapable  of  unfolding  the  tender  passion, 
and  of  expressing  its  enchanting  emotions.  He 
frequently  pours  forth  high  and  almost  idola- 
trous encomiums  on  the  fair  sex;  and  he  de- 
scribes the  rise  and  progress  of  life  with  all  the 
ardour  of  youthful  sensibility: — but  lie  com- 
prehends within  the  plan  of  his  work  many 
other  objects,  which  will  render  it  interesting 
to  the  philosopher,  as  well  as  to  the  lover. 
Several  lively  descriptions  of  American  scenes, 
both  natural  and  artificial,  are  introduced. 
The  characters  of  the  piece  are  so  distinctly 
marked,  and  so  perfectly  consonant  to  the 


TJie  First  Kentucky  Novelist  19 

present  state  of  manners,  that  we  can  easily 
credit  the  writer's  assertion  that  the  principal 
part  of  his  story  is  founded  on  facts,  and,  in 
every  instance,  he  has  had  a  real  character  for 
his  model.  Reflections  frequently  occur,  in 
the  course  of  the  narrative,  which  discover  a 
mind  inured  to  philosophical  speculation.  On 
the  general  subject  of  politics,  Mr.  Imlay 
expresses  himself  with  the  freedom  of  an 
enlightened  philosopher,  and  advances  senti- 
ments which  will  be  generally  approved  by 
those  who  are  capable  of  divesting  themselves 
of  the  powerful  prejudices  arising  from  self- 
interest  : — but  the  principal  design  of  the  work 
appears  to  be  to  turn  public  attention  toward 
the  present  state  of  society  with  regard  to 
marriage.  It  is  an  opinion,  which  this  writer 
seems  to  think  it  of  great  importance  to  com- 
municate and  support,  that  the  female  world 
is  at  present,  in  consequence  of  the  rigour  of 
matrimonial  institutions,  in  a  state  of  oppres- 
sive vassalage;  and  that  it  would  greatly  in- 
crease the  happiness  of  society  if  divorces 
could  be  more  easily  obtained.  Several  of  the 
characters  and  incidents  of  these  volumes  are 
introduced  for  the  purpose  of  illustrating  and 
confirming  this  observation ;  and  the  question, 
in  different  parts  of  the  work,  is  expressly  dis- 
cussed. 

"  After  all,  however,  that  Mr.  Imlay  has  ad- 


20        Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

vanced  on  the  subject,  it  may,  we  apprehend, 
be  maintained  that  the  inconveniences  which 
have  flowed  from  the  existing  laws  respecting 
marriage  have  proceeded  more  from  depraved 
manners  of  the  age,  than  from  the  nature  of  the 
institutions  themselves;  and  that  the  perpetu- 
ity and  inviolability  of  the  marriage  contract 
contribute  essentially  toward  the  virtue  and 
the  general  happiness  of  society, — however  un- 
fortunate may  be  the  lot  of  individuals,  many 
instances  of  which,  it  is  confessed,  we  have 
known,  without  being  able  to  afford  relief  to 
the  guiltless  sufferers;  and  can  there  be  a  more 
disagreeable  situation  for  a  man  of  feeling, 
than  to  witness  the  distresses  which  he  can  not 
alleviate?  " 

"  The  Emigrants  "  is  the  rarest  of  the  rare 
Kentucky  books.  An  extensive  correspond- 
ence has  revealed  the  fact  that  there  are  prob- 
ably but  four  copies  in  existence.  The  British 
Museum,  the  John  Carter  Brown  Library  of 
Brown  University,  the  New  York  Public  Li- 
brary, and  the  Filson  Club  all  have  copies  of 
the  novel.  The  New  York  Public  Library 
bought  their  set  on  March  10,  1898,  for  $7.12 
at  the  sale  of  the  library  of  Charles  Deane,  an 
eminent  Boston  collector  of  rare  Americana ; 
and  Col.  R.  T.  Durrett  picked  up  his  set  for 
the  Filson  Club  Library  many  years  ago  in 


The  First  Kentucky  Novelist  21 

London.  It  is  the  only  one  in  Kentucky  at  the 
present  time. 

In  J793  Gilbert  1  inlay  left  London  for  Paris, 
and  during  the  year  '"  he  formed  that  memor- 
able connection  with  Mary  Wollstonecraft, 
which  has  gained  for  her  the  sympathy  of  all 
readers  of  her  impassioned  letters,  and  left  him 
with  the  unenviable  character  of  '  the  base 
Indian  who  threw  a  pearl  away  richer  than 
all  his  tribe.'  Imlay  was  evidently  incon- 
stant, sensual,  and  unfeeling."  But  she  fell 
in  love  with  him.  She  was  the  first  of  the 
modern  "  new  women.''  Her  ideas  are  held 
to-day  by  many  leaders  of  thought  among 
women,  except  on  the  question  of  marriage. 
Mary  Wollstonecraft  held  mutual  affection 
equivalent  to  marriage.  As  she  loved  Imlay, 
she  felt  justified  in  taking  up  her  abode  with 
him  without  a  legal  marriage.  There  is  little 
doubt  that  she  regarded  herself  as  I  inlay's 
wife  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man.  The  real 
trouble  was,  Imlay  did  not  return  her  affec- 
tion. 

By  August,  1793,  they  were  living  together 
in  Paris  as  man  and  wife.  In  the  fall  of  the 
same  year  Imlay  was  called  to  Havre  on  busi- 
ness, and  later  established  commercial  rela- 
tions there.  His  wife  joined  him  shortly 
afterward. 

In  the  spring  of  1794  Mrs.  Imlay  gave  birth 


22       Kentuckians  m  History  and  Literature 

to  a  daughter  who  was  named  Fanny  Imlay. 
She  is,  "  after  her  mother,  the  most  attractive 
character  with  whom  we  meet  in  the  whole 
enormous  mass  of  Godwin's  manuscripts."  As 
she  grew  up  she  became  a  lovable  woman, 
and  an  optimist.  But  at  times  she  was  pes- 
simistic. In  October,  1816,  it  was  arranged 
for  Fanny  to  go  to  Ireland  to  be  with  two  of 
her  aunts.  But  at  Swansea,  on  October  10, 
she  committed  suicide.  The  cause  of  her  rash 
act  is  unknown.  In  a  note  which  she  left  she 
referred  to  herself  as  "  a  being  wThose  birth 
was  unfortunate,"  and  added  that  her  friends 
would  soon  forget  "  such  a  creature  ever 
existed."  She  had  probably  recently  heard  of 
her  origin,  become  despondent  over  it,  and 
made  way  with  herself.  On  March  10,  1794, 
Mrs.  Imlay  wrote  a  letter  from  Havre  to  her 
sister,  Everina  Wollstonecraft,  in  which  she 
referred  to  Imlay  as  "  a  most  worthy  man," 
"  a  most  natural,  unaffected  creature."  It  is 
quite  clear  that  this  "  handsome  scoundrel " 
had  completely  pulled  the  wool  over  the  eyes 
of  an  otherwise  remarkable  woman.  In  Sep- 
tember of  the  same  year  Imlay  went  to  Lon- 
don and  his  wife  returned  to  Paris.  The  sepa- 
ration served  to  chill  what  little  affection 
Imlay  had  for  her.  He  remained  in  London 
about  two  months.  His  business  was  in  a  bad 
way  by  this  time,  and  he  decided  to  engage  in 


The  First  Kentucky  Novelist  23 

trade  connected  with  Norway  and  Sweden.  lie 
finally  permitted  his  wife  and  child  to  join 
him  in  London,  as  he  thought  his  Scandi- 
navian trade  would  bring  him  a  fortune.  In 
1795  Mrs.  I  inlay  went  to  Norway  to  look  after 
Imlay's  business.  Imlay  armed  her  with  a 
document  certifying  that  she  was  his  wife  and 
empowering  her  to  act  for  him.  He  himself 
went  on  a  trip  to  another  country. 

Mrs.  Imlay  returned  to  England  in  the 
autumn  of  1795,  only  to  receive  letters  from 
Imlay  that  they  were  to  part.  He  offered  to 
settle  an  annuity  on  little  Fanny,  but  she 
neither  accepted  nor  refused  anything.  She 
left  it  to  his  own  discretion.  Imlay  gave  a 
bond  for  a  sum  to  be  settled  upon  their  child, 
but  it  was  never  paid.  Mrs.  Imlay's  last  let- 
ter to  Imlay  was  dated  London,  December, 
1795.  He  met  her  again  shortly  afterward  and 
tried  to  make  her  believe  he  had  no  other  at- 
tachment, but  she  discovered  he  was  carrying 
on  an  intrigue  with  another  woman  under  her 
own  roof.  They  met  again,  by  accident,  for 
the  last  time  in  April,  1796.  Imlay  was  rid- 
ing upon  a  horse,  and  when  he  saw  Mary  he 
alighted,  "  and  walked  with  her  for  some  time." 
Separation  was  now  the  only  course  left  open 
to  them,  and  they  took  leave  of  each  other  for- 
ever. Later,  Mary  Wollstonecraft  tried  to 
commit  suicide,  but  her  attempt  was  frus- 


24       Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

trated.  She  soon  regained  her  equipoise,  and 
on  March  29,  1797,  married  William  Godwin 
(1756-1836),  the  English  philosopher  and 
novelist.  Their  only  child  became  the  wife  of 
the  poet  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley.  But  in  giving 
her  child  birth  the  mother  forfeited  her  own 
life.  Mar}7  Wollstonecraft's  "  Vindications  of 
the  Rights  of  Women  "  gives  her  a  permanent 
place  in  English  letters. 

The  late  Dr.  Richard  Garnett,  of  the  British 
Museum,  in  his  sketch  of  Imlay  in  the  "  Dic- 
tionary of  National  Biography,"  concludes 
with  these  words :  "  He  possibly  returned  to 
America;  the  time  and  place  of  his  death  are 
unknown."  The  distinguished  librarian  is 
correct  in  his  second  statement,  but  it  is  my 
opinion  that  Imlay  did  not  return  to  Amer- 
ica. As  has  already  been  suggested,  the  last 
glimpse  we  have  of  Imlay  is  in  April,  179(5. 
If  he  returned  to  America,  who  prepared  the 
last  edition  of  the  "  Topographical  Descrip- 
tion," published  at  London  in  1797?  This 
final  edition  contains  very  large  additions,  and 
it  would  seem  most  likely  that  Imlay  prepared 
it  for  publication.  Mr.  William  Nelson,  the 
New  Jersey  historian,  who  has  most  carefully 
gone  through  the  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
newspapers,  The  Gentleman's  Magazine,  and 
Notes  and  Queries  covering  the  years  1795- 
1830,  for  notices  of  Imlay's  death  or  of  his  re- 


First  Kentucky  Novelist  25 

turn  to  America,  and  has  failed  to  find  either, 
is  nearer  the  truth  when  he  asks:  "  From  the 
utter  lack  of  mention  of  Gilbert  I  inlay  after 
1  !!)(>,  do  you  not  think  it  quite  possible  that  he 
died  obscurely  in  London  or  Paris,  or  else- 
where on  the  Continent,  shortly  after  parting 
with  Mary  Wollstonecraft,  and  that  he  never 
returned  to  America  at  all?"  The  present 
writer  answers,  "  Yes." 


KENTUCKIANS  IN  THE  HALLS  OF 
FAME 


KENTUCKIANS  IN  THE  HALLS  OF 
FAME 

FOR  the  past  few  years  Kentuckians  have  been 
at  sea  as  to  their  representatives  for  the  Na- 
tional Statuary  Hall  at  Washington.  The 
question  as  to  the  proper  representatives  has 
been  the  all-absorbing  topic  among  students  of 
the  State's  history,  but  as  yet  no  conclusion 
has  been  reached. 

In  the  latest  Kentucky  legislature  several 
bills  were  introduced  proposing  different  dis- 
tinguished Kentuckians  for  the  places  in  the 
Statuary  Flail.  The  historical  societies  of  the 
State  failed  to  agree  on  the  two  men  who 
should  be  chosen.  The  Filson  Club  suggested 
the  names  of  Henry  Clay  and  George  Rogers 
Clark ;  the  Kentucky  State  Historical  Society 
proposed  the  names  of  Abraham  FJncoln  and 
Jefferson  Davis.  On  account  of  this  conflict, 
and  also  on  account  of  the  large  amount  of 
business  that  the  legislature  had  to  transact, 
the  two  Kentuckians  were  not  chosen.  The 
next  legislature  will  no  doubt  select  the  State's 
representatives  for  the  older  of  the  two  Amer- 
ican Valhallas. 

29 


30        Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

When  the  old  hall  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives was  abandoned  by  the  lower  house 
of  Congress  in  1857  for  the  new  house,  the 
question  arose  as  to  its  final  disposition.  The 
Senate  chamber  of  the  old  Congressional  build- 
ing was  converted  into  the  chamber  of  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court,  But  it  was  not 
until  Justin  S.  Morrill,  father  of  the  State  Col- 
leges, came  forward  with  a  bill  that  was  finally 
passed  July  2,  1864,  setting  the  old  hall  apart 
as  the  National  Statuary  ITall,  that  its  future 
use  was  determined.  Mori-ill's  act  authorized 
the  President  to  invite  the  States  to  provide 
statues  in  marble  or  bronze,  not  exceeding  two 
in  number  from  each  State,  of  deceased  per- 
sons who  have  been  citizens  of  the  State  and 
are  illustrious  for  their  historic  renown  or  for 
distinguished  or  military  services,  such  as  each 
State  may  deem  to  be  worthy  of  this  national 
commemoration.  Many  of  the  States  have  not 
yet  taken  advantage  of  this  opportunity  to 
commemorate  forever  two  of  their  greatest 
sons  in  the  manner  in  which  they  should. 

To-day  only  fourteen  States  have  sent  their 
full  quota,  as  follows:  Connecticut,  Roger 
Sherman  and  Jonathan  Trumbull ;  Illinois, 
James  Shields  and  Frances  E.  TVillard;  Massa- 
chusetts, John  TVinthrop  and  Samuel  Adams; 
Maryland,  John  Hanson  and  Charles  Carroll ; 
Missouri,  Thomas  H.  Benton  and  Francis  P. 


Kentuckians  in  the  Halls  of  Fame         31 

Blair,  Jr. ;  New  Hampshire,  John  Stark  and 
Daniel  Webster;  New  Jersey,  Richard  Stock- 
ton and  Phil  Kearny;  New  York,  Robert  R. 
Livingston  and  George  Clinton;  Ohio,  James 
A.  Oarfield  and  William  Allen;  Pennsylvania, 
Robert  Fulton  and  John  P.  G.  Mnhlenberg; 
Rhode  Island,  Nathanael  Greene  and  Roger 
Williams;  Texas,  Sam  Houston  and  Stephen 
F.  Austin;  Vermont,  Jacob  Collamer  and 
Ethan  Allen;  West  Virginia,  John  E.  Kenna 
and  Francis  H.  Pierpont.  Of  these  twenty- 
eight  famous  Americans,  Kentucky  has  a  good 
claim  on  two  of  them:  Blair  and  Austin. 
Francis  Preston  Blair  was  born  in  Lexington, 
Kentucky,  February  19,  1821.  When  he  was 
nine  years  old  his  father  moved  to  Washington, 
D.  C.,  to  assume  control  of  the  Congressional 
GJo~be.  Blair  graduated  from  Princeton  Uni- 
versity in  1841,  and  then  returned  to  Kentucky 
to  study  law  under  Louis  Marshall.  He  grad- 
uated in  the  law  school  of  the  Transylvania 
University  at  Lexington,  and  then  moved  to 
St.  Louis  to  practice.  In  September,  1847, 
Blair  again  returned  to  Kentucky  to  claim  his 
Kentucky  sweetheart  as  his  wife — Miss  Apol- 
line  Alexander,  of  Woodford  County.  On 
September  8  they  were  married.  Blair  re- 
turned to  Missouri  the  following  year  and 
began  the  practice  of  law.  In  1802  he  was 
elected  to  the  Missouri  legislature  and  four 


32       Kentuckians  m  History  and  Literature 

years  later  to  the  National  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. Blair  was  a  distinguished  Union 
soldier  in  the  Civil  War,  but  after  the  war  he 
joined  the  Democratic  party.  In  1868  he  was 
nominated  for  Vice-President  with  Governor 
Horatio  Seymour  for  President,  but  was  de- 
feated. He  was  elected  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the 
United  States  Senate  and  served  from  Janu- 
ary, 1871,  to  March,  1873.  Shortly  afterward 
he  was  stricken  with  paralysis  and  died  in  St. 
Louis,  July  9,  1875. 

Stephen  Fuller  Austin,  the  founder  of 
Texas,  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1793,  and,  ac- 
cording to  the  Hon.  Champ  Clark,  Missouri's 
noted  representative  in  the  National  House, 
and  a  native  Kentuckian,  "  Austin  was  an 
alumnus  of  Transylvania  University,  at  which 
famous  seat  of  learning  I  spent  three  of  the 
happiest,  most  laborious,  and  most  profitable 
years  of  a  busy  life.  The  two  most  celebrated 
names  on  the  roster  of  the  students  were  those 
of  Jefferson  Davis  and  Stephen  F.  Austin. 
Frequently,  when  I  can  snatch  a  moment  from 
this  strenuous  life,  my  heart  fondly  travels 
back  over  mountain,  vale,  and  river  to  the 
days  of  my  youth  about  Lexington. 

"  Still  o'er  these  scene?  my  memory  wakes, 
And  fondly  broods  with  Miser  care; 
Time  but  the  impression  deeper  makes. 
As  streams  their  channels  deeper  wear." 


Kentuckians  in  the  Halls  of  Fame         33 

Austin  was  the  uncle  of  Mrs.  Horace  Hoi- 
ley,  wife  of  the  famous  Transylvania  Univer- 
sity president.  After  her  husband's  death  she 
moved  to  Texas  to  live  with  her  distinguished 
kinsman,  and  later  wrote  a  "  History  of 
Texas.''  Austin  went  to  Texas  in  1821  and 
founded  the  city  of  Austin.  He  was  a  great 
worker  for  Texas  independence,  and  is  rightly 
called  "  the  founder  of  Texas."  He  was  im- 
prisoned for  three  months  in  Mexico  while  on 
one  of  his  missions.  Some  months  before  his 
death  he  traveled  through  Kentucky,  making 
speeches  advocating  the  independence  of  his 
adopted  State.  Austin  died  in  Columbia, 
Texas,  December  27,  183H.  lie  is  one  of 
Texas's  greatest  sons,  and  his  memory  is 
honored  throughout  the  State. 

Five  other  States  have  sent  one  statue  of 
a  gifted  son  to  Statuary  Hall :  Indiana,  Oliver 
P.  Morton;  Kansas,  John  J.  Ingalls;  Maine, 
William  King;  Michigan,  Lewis  Cass;  Wis- 
consin, Pere  Marquette.  Kentucky  has  no 
claim  upon  these  men.  Besides  Kentucky, 
there  are  twenty-five  other  States  that  have 
not  sent  representatives  to  Statuary  Hall. 
Nearly  all  of  them,  it  will  be  noticed,  are 
Southern  States:  Alabama,  Arkansas,  Califor- 
nia, Colorado,  Delaware,  Florida,  Georgia, 
Idaho,  Washington,  Iowa,  Louisiana,  Missis- 
sippi, Minnesota,  Nebraska,  Wyoming,  South 


34       Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

and  North  Carolina,  North  and  South  Dakota, 
Oregon,  Tennessee,  Utah,  and  Virginia.  Ore- 
gon will  probably  choose  as  one  of  her  repre- 
sentatives Edward  D.  Baker,  the  famous 
orator,  and  Virginia  will  probably  choose  as 
her  representatives  Washington  and  Jefferson. 
Some  surprise  was  caused  when  New  York 
failed  to  choose  Alexander  Hamilton,  and  when 
Ohio  chose  William  Allen  instead  of  U.  S. 
Grant.  But  the  greatest  surprise  of  all  came 
from  Illinois  choosing  Frances  E.  Willard  in 
place  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  Thus  Illinois  has 
left  Lincoln  to  Indiana  and  Kentucky,  but 
neither  of  these  States  has  seen  fit  to  put  him 
in  National  Statuary  Hall. 

The  other  Hall  of  Fame,  situated  upon  the 
grounds  of  the  New  York  University,  is  very 
different  from  the  Washington  Hall  of  Fame. 
Panels  instead  of  statues  are  used  in  New 
York,  although  statues  and  pictures  have  been 
used.  Representatives  are  not  chosen  by  the 
State  legislature,  but  by  one  hundred  compe- 
tent citizens  who  are  students  of  history.  Elec- 
tors of  the  New  York  Hall  of  Fame  are  univer- 
sity presidents,  professors  of  history,  editors, 
authors,  and  chief  justices.  The  Kentucky 
elector  is  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of 
Appeals.  One  hundred  and  fifty  panels  have 
been  provided  in  this  hall  of  fame  for  great 
Americans.  Fifty  of  these  panels  were  to  have 


Kentuckians  in  the  Halls  of  Fame         35 

been  inscribed  when  the  first  election  was  held 
in  1900,  but  the  number  of  votes  required  is 
tifty-one  out  of  a  possible  one  hundred,  and 
only  twenty-nine  famous  Americans  received  a 
sufficient  number  of  votes  to  permit  of  their 
names  being  inscribed  in  the  Hall  of  Fame. 
If  iifty  names  had  been  chosen  in  1900,  the 
rules  state  that  five  additional  panels  should 
be  inscribed  at  the  close  of  every  five  years. 
Thus,  at  the  election  held  in  October,  1905, 
twenty-six  representatives  should  have  been 
chosen,  but  only  five  were  chosen.  Of  the 
twenty-nine  names  chosen  in  1900,  only  three 
of  them  were  Kentuckians :  Henry  Clay,  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,  and  John  J.  Audubon.  It  is  a 
well-known  fact  that  Clay  is  synonymous  with 
Kentucky,  and  that  Lincoln  first  saw  the  light 
on  February  12,  1809,  in  Hardin  County,  Ken- 
tucky. It  is  possibly  not  so  well  known  that 
the  greatest  American  ornithologist  spent 
many  years  of  his  life  in  Louisville  and  Hen- 
derson, Kentucky — years  in  which  he  made 
preparation  for  his  great  work. 

Washington  received  more  votes  than  any 
other  American,  ninety-seven ;  Lincoln  was 
second,  with  Webster,  receiving  ninety-six; 
and  then  came  Franklin,  Grant,  Marshall,  Jef- 
ferson, Emerson,  Fulton,  Longfellow,  Irving, 
Edwards,  Morse,  Farragut,  Clay,  seventy-four; 
Peabody,  Hawthorne,  Cooper,  Whitney,  Lee, 


36       Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

Mann,  Audubon,  sixty-seven;  Kent,  Beecher, 
Story,  Adams,  Channing,  Stuart,  and  the  bo- 
tanist, Asa  Gray. 

Several  Kentuckians  received  votes  for 
places  in  the  Hall  of  Fame,  as  follows :  Daniel 
Boone,  thirty-five;  George  Rogers  Clark,  nine- 
teen ;  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  twelve ;  Zachary 
Taylor,  born  in  Virginia,  but  brought  to  Ken- 
tucky at  nine  months  of  age,  and  continued  to 
be  a  resident  of  the  State  until  his  twenty- 
fifth  year,  received  nine  votes :  Dr.  Ephraim 
McDowell,  the  father  of  ovariotomy,  five ;  John 
J.  Crittenden  and  Martin  John  Spalding,  the 
great  Roman  Catholic,  received  one  vote  each. 

At  the  election  in  October,  1905,  the  names 
of  five  famous  Americans  were  inscribed  in  the 
Hall  of  Fame — John  Quincy  Adams,  James 
Russell  Lowell,  William  T.  Sherman,  James 
Madison,  and  John  Greenleaf  Whittier.  In 
the  Hall  of  Fame  for  men  of  foreign  birth 
the  names  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  Louis  Agas- 
siz,  and  John  Paul  Jones  were  inscribed.  In 
the  Hall  of  Fame  for  women  three  names  were 
cut  into  the  stone — -Mary  Lyon,  Emma  \Vil- 
lard,  arid  Maria  Mitchell.  Upon  none  of  these 
persons  has  Kentucky  a  claim.  However,  sev- 
eral of  the  State's  sons  received  heavy  votes. 
Boone  and  Clark  each  received  one  vote  more 
than  they  did  in  1900,  giving  them  thirty-six 
and  twenty  votes,  respectively.  Johnston's 


Kentuckians  m  the  Halls  of  Fame         37 

vote  fell  from  twelve  to  nine,  Taylor's  from 
nine  to  two,  McDowell's  from  five  to  one,  while 
Crittenden  and  Spaldiug  were  not  nominated. 
This  simply  means  that  Kentucky  will  be  rep- 
resented by  the  three  names  already  inscribed 
in  the  New  York  ilall  of  Fame :  Lincoln,  Clay, 
and  Audubon.  As  these  three  names  are  for- 
ever immortal  in  American  history,  and  as  it 
is  an  utter  impossibility  to  get  some  of  our 
men,  greater  perhaps  than  the  above  three,  be- 
fore the  Northern  judges  who  constitute  a 
majority  of  the  electors,  when  the  legislature 
finally  does  choose  Kentucky's  representatives 
for  the  National  Statuary  Hall,  why  not  choose 
men  of  State  rather  than  of  National  reputa- 
tion? This  is  what  the  States  that  have  chosen 
their  representatives  have  done.  At  any  rate, 
the  Statuary  Hall  is  separately  for  the  States 
and,  taken  as  a  whole,  for  the  Union. 

Henry  Clay  has  probably  received  more 
homage  than  has  been  accorded  by  any  one 
State  to  any  one  son,  and  it  is  not  only  fit- 
ting but  eminently  just  that  some  Kentuckian, 
other  than  he,  should  be  one  of  the  State's 
representatives.  It  may  be  a  good  idea  to 
advise  the  outside  world  that  Clay  is  not  the 
only  remarkable  man  Kentucky  has  produced. 

Lincoln  lived  twice  as  long  in  Indiana  as  he 
did  in  Kentucky,  although  born  in  the  latter 
State.  The  first  American  would  make  an  ex- 


38        Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

cellent  companion  for  Indiana's  War-Gover- 
nor. Then  let  Mississippi  send  Jefferson 
Davis;  but  Kentucky  should  send  statues  of 
McDowell,  Buchanan,  O'Hara,  Johnston, 
Clark,  or  Menefee :  men  who  have  not  received 
just  recognition  hitherto. 


A    FORGOTTEN      SINGER 


A    FORGOTTEN    SINGER 

ABOUT  seventy-five  Kentuckians  have  pub- 
lished poems;  and  half  of  this  number  have 
been  women.  Amelia  B.  Welby's  "  Rainbow  " 
is  probably  the  best  poem  that  any  of  Ken- 
tucky's daughters  has  written.  After  her 
masterpiece  one  would  name  Sarah  B.  Piatt's 
"  A  Word  With  a  Skylark,"  which  John  Bur- 
roughs thought  good  enough  for  his  "  Songs 
of  Nature'';  and  Annie  Chambers  Ketchum's 
u  Semper  Fidelis."  But  these  three  names  are 
to  be  found  in  any  anthology  of  American 
poetry,  while  the  woman  whose  poetry  I  desire 
to  call  attention  to  is  practically  forgotten. 
Her  work  is  known  only  to  the  special  student 
of  Kentucky  literature.  The  poems  that  are 
here  printed  will  show,  I  think,  that  Mary  E. 
Betts  was  no  "  maudlin  poetess,"  and  that  her 
place  is  just  below  the  three  women  named 
above.  Mrs.  Betts  also  gained  her  reputation 
as  writer  of  verse  without  the  assistance  of 
George  D.  Prentice  and  his  powerful  Louis- 
rillc  Journal:  Mrs.  Welby,  Mrs.  Piatt,  and 
Mrs.  Ketchum  are  primarily  the  Prentice 
poets. 

Mary  Eliza  Wilson,  daughter  of  Isaiah  and 

41 


48        Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

Hannah  Wilson,  was  born  in  Maysville,  Ken- 
tucky, January,  1824.  She  was  educated  at 
the  Maysville  schools.  On  July  10,  1854,  Miss 
Wilson  married  Morgan  L.  Betts,  editor  of 
The  Detroit  Times.  She  died  in  Maysville  on 
September  19,  1854,  of  congestion  of  the  brain. 
Her  death  was  believed  to  be  caused  B'y  the 
great  gunpowder  explosion  of  August  13,  1854, 
when  nearly  thirty  thousand  pounds  of  gun- 
powder, near  Maysville,  was  fired  by  incen- 
diaries, causing  a  loss  of  $50,000.  Many 
buildings,  including  eight  churches,  were  de- 
molished, and  the  explosion  was  heard  for 
miles  around.  A  large  reward  was  offered 
for  the  perpetrators,  but  without  success. 
Mrs.  Betts's  husband  died  in  the  following 
October.  Throughout  her  mature  life  she  was 
a  contributor  of  poetry  to  the  newspapers  and 
magazines  of  the  country. 

For  the  sketch  of  Mrs.  Betts  and  the  follow- 
ing poems  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Basil  D. 
Strode,  a  great-nephew  of  the  poetess.  With 
the  exception  of  the  tribute  to  Crittenden, 
these  poems  are  now  published  for  the  first 
time  in  book  form. 

Mrs.  Betts  was  probably  the  best  woman 
writer  of  love  lyrics  that  Kentucky  has  pro- 
duced. The  two  poems  given  below  are  good 
examples  of  her  work  in  this  field. 


A   Forgotten  Singer  43 


A    DREAM    OF    BEAUTY 

I'm  gazing  on  a   lovely   star,  that  floats  in  yonder 

blue. 
Its  soft  sweet  light  as  down  it  comes,  breathes  gently 

now  of  you ; 
It  tells  me  that  thy   heart's  deep   fount,   so  bright 

in  by-gone  years. 
Is   floating   softly   now   as   then,   with   Love's   sweet 

dewy  tears — • 
That  e'en  the  brightest  one  that  gives  each  crystal 

wan  of  light. 
Is  smiling  lonely  for  me  now  in  all  its  beauty  bright. 

And  tho'  thou  art  afar  this  night,  beyond  the  South- 
ern sea, 

Yet,  yet,  I  feel  thy  holiest  dreams  are  breathing  now 
for  me; 

E'en  the  soft,  voluptuous  light,  that  sleeps  on 
Italia's  vales, 

Or  perfumes  sweet  that  ever  load  the  evening's  sleepy 
gales — • 

Can  never  lead  thy  thoughts  astray,  or  chill  the 
love  that  springs 

Gently  in  thy  heart  for  me,  like  summer's  murmur- 
ings. 

I   know   when   thou   art   wand'ring,   'neath   the   soft 

Sicilian  sky, 
Or  hear  amid  her  sunny  groves  the  bulbul's  plaintive 

sigh— 

Thou  wilt  turn  to  other  days,  and  o'er  thy  spirit  lone. 
The  music  sweet  will  linger  low,  that  sleeps  within 

mine  own — 


44       Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

And  ev*ry  wreath  of  joy  and  love,  that  crowned  thy 
sunny  way, 

Wilt  live  and  breathe  as  beautiful  as  flow'rs  in  sum- 
mer day. 

Then  I  will  envy  not  again,  the  blue,  o'er-arching 
sky, 

Or  murmur  at  the  zephyr  light,  as  soft  it  wan- 
ders by; 

No,  no !  altho'  they  linger  oft,  with  beauty  on  thy 
heart, 

And  to  its  low,  sweet  singing  founts,  a  holy  light 
imparts — 

Yet,  they  have  never  made  thee  false,  or  chilled  thy 
deep,  deep  love, 

"Tis  now  as  bright  and  beautiful  as  angel  smiles 
above. 

And  when   upon   my   spirit   floats   a    fair   and    holy 

dream, 
Like  the  gentle  light  that  lingers  soft,  on  some  bright 

starry    beam- 
Then    I   will   turn   to   thee   and   bless   thee   for   thy 

love  and  truth. 
That  gleamed  so  bright  upon  thy  brow  in  May-day's 

sunny  youth ; 
And  my  fond  heart  will  bring  its  gems  of  beauty 

to  thy  shrine. 
And  link  it  with  the  holy  light  that  dwells  so  pure 

in  thine. 

Of  the  second  poem,  The  Detroit  Times,  in 
which  it  was  published,  said:  "  Xo  heart  that 
has  a  single  spark  of  love  in  it  will  read  this 
poem  without  admiring  it." 


A    Forgotten    Singer  45 


TO  T.  D.  W.,  OF  DETROIT,  MICHIGAN 

I  have  heard  tlie  low  voice  of  the  murmuring  deep, 

Where    the    white-crested    billows    unceasingly    leap, 

And  the  spirit  that  nestles  adown  in  the  shell, 

Its  low  music  whispers  to   the  night  breezes   tell — 

But  they  breathed  o'er  my  soul  no  lovelier  balm, 

They  left  not  the  signet  of  holier  calm. 

Than   the   low  song  that   floats   up   sweet   from   thy 

Lyre, 
All  filled  with  the  light  of  Parnassian  fire! 

I've  breathed  the  soft  airs  of  the  far  sunny  South, 
Where  Beauty  is  bright  and  as  glowing  as  youth, 
Where  the  humming-bird  sips  from  crimson-lipped 

rose, 

As  the  Day-god  sings  to  his  golden  repose — 
Where  love's  fairy  fingers  the  orange  buds  twine, 
To  wreathe  for  its   idol   the  loveliest  shrine — 
But  they  touched  not  my  lip  with  a  holier  smile, 
Than    the    song    thou    hast    bro't    from    the    Poet's 

sunny  Isle. 

I've  bathed  my  sad  brow  in  the  soft,  rippling  wave. 
Where  the  coral  grove  made  the  seaman  a  grave. 
And  the  sorrowing  sea  gull  on  lightly  poised  wing. 
Hushes  low  his  wild  song,  as  the  mermaidens  sing: 
Where  the  muskplant  is  sending  round  its  perfume. 
Where  the  pomegranate  opes  its  radiant  bloom — 
But  my  heart  did  not  flutter  as  wildly,  as  when 
Floated  soft  o'er  my  deep  soul  thy  heavenly  strain. 


46       KentucJcians  in  History  and  Literature 

I  know  that  thy  life  is  one  beautful  spring, 

And  hope,  with  the  glory  of  its  rainbow  wing, 

Encircles  thy  spirit's  deep  fountains  of  light, 

And  filling  its  temple  of  beauty  so  bright, 

That  mem'ry  will  only  bring  to  its  bowers 

The  portrait  fair  of  the  loveliest  flowers — 

And  o'er  thee  no  sorrow  ever  will  gloom 

To  rob  thy  young  heart  of  its  beauty  and  bloom. 

I  know  that  thy  cheek  wears  a  bright  sunny  beam, 

Thine  eye  like  the  night-star,  with  wild  fires  gleam, 

And   where    love's   sweet   waters    enchantingly   flow, 

There,  there,  thy  soft  spirit  has  drunk  till  the  glow 

Of  beauty  encircles  its  wings  with  a  light, 

Lovely  as  gleams  o'er  the  amber-beds  bright, 

Where  the  purple-winged  bird  makes  its  soft  downy 

nest, 
And  sings  'mid  the  bright  flowers  its  young  heart 

to  rest. 

I  know  that  thy  spirit  is  soft  as  mine  own. 

And  the  green  earth  hath  music's  beautiful  tone 

To  glad  thy  young  heart !   the  flowers  still  gleam 

Lovely  beside  their  own  wild  mountain  stream, 

And  the  stars  are  as  bright  on  the  midnight  sky, 

The  zephyr  as  soft  as  he  once  wandered  by. 

When  our  childhood's  years  wore,  nor  shadow,  nor 

shade. 
And  we  thought  light  in  the  heart  never  could  fade. 

Oh !    I  know  that  the  sky  looks  down  on  thee  now, 
With  its  sweet  eyes  of  blue,  its  bright  starry  brow. 
And  softly  to  thee,  the  green  whispering  leaves 
Breathe   their   low    murmurs    to    the    light    passing 

breeze — - 

And  thy  soul  is  bright  with  the  beauty  that  springs 
Far  up  from  the  earth  on  the  light's  golden  wings. 


A  Forgotten  Singer  47 

Oh,  life  for  thoe  now  hath  lost  its  grief  and  its  gloom, 
And  crowned  itself  with  sweet  May-day's  beauteous 
bloom. 

In  the  manner  of  George  D.  Prentice's 
"  Closing  Year,"  Mrs.  Retts  wrote  "  The  Death 
of  the  Year." 

Another  year  hath  gone1 — imprinted    on 

His  brow  the  chronicles  of  sorrows,  tears, 

Hopes  and  joys,   and   fame  and   wealth  and   power. 

Like  another  Tyrant  glutted  with  the 

Tears  of  thousands,  and  thmsted  down  from  his 

Blood-cemented  throne,  he  sank  low  upon 

A  dim  and  fevered  couch. 

I  looked  upon 

The  pale  wan  stars,  as  they  meekly  trembled 
Far  in  the  upper  deep,  and  they  wept  their 
Dewy  tears,   and  slowly  gave  to  earth  a 
Few  sad  beams,  like  lamps  that  hang  above  the 
Couch  of  death.     The  silver  moon,  that  seemed  with 
Her  cold  face,  anxious  to  shrink  away 
Behind  each  loitering  cloud — the  unclad 
Forest  trees — the  stream  of  earth,  that  once  danced 
Along  its  merry  way  and  softly  flowed 
With  its  loving  gaze  turned  upon  the  far 
Deep  heavens,  as  if  it  looked  to  see  on 
Ev'ry  star  an  angel's  smile  of  joy — sent 
Up  a  wailing,   mournful  sound — a  low,  sad 
Requiem  for  the  past. 

Docs  Xature  'lone 

Weep  o'er  the  dim.  cold  bier,  the  Tyrant  Time 
Hath  made?    Or   are  there  those  who   sadly  grieve 
As  they  gaze  upon  the  blue  heavens  at 


48        Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

Xight,  and  watch  the  soft,  sweet  beams  of  some  new- 
Found  star,  that  chronicles  in  each  bright  smile 
A  tale  of  stricken  love,  and  hope,  and  joy? 
Who  look  around  them  morn  and  eve,  and  miss 
The  fairy  form,  the  sun-light  glance,  the  smiles 
Of  love,  and  kindly  words  that  breathed  in  tones 
Or  thrilling  sweetness  ? 

Ah,  yes  !  many  weep 

Above  the  graves  of  the  young,  the  brave,  the 
Beautiful  half-opened  blossoms,  that  withered 
All  too  soon  beneath  the  tread  of 
Iron-footed   Time  !     and    days   of  joy — days 
Of  hope   and    love,   whoso   beautiful   visions 
Floated  o'er  the  swelling  breast,  and  made  earth 
Grow  fair  beneath  the  magic  of  their  smiles, 
Darkened  and  fled  away. 

But  e'en  amid 

The  desert-wastes  Old  Time  hath  made,  some  bright 
Spots  are  left  us  still — sweet  oases  for  the 
Wearied  wanderer,  where  cooling  draughts 
Are  found,  and  fruits  the  best  are  ripened.     Old 
Time  with   do\vny  feet  hath  passed  o'er  many 
A  scene,  and  left  the  young  heart  light  and  free. 
And   crowned  the  young  brow  with   coronets   bright 
Of  fairest  flower-!    The  path  of  Many 
A  sage-sire  is  twined  with  the  glorious 
Wreaths  of  fame,  and   cheered  by  the  smiles  of  the 
Brave  and   free. 

Far-famed  America,  thrm 

Art  bright'ning— thou  Oasis  of  earth's  glooinv 
Deserts,  where  ihe  exile  comes,  and  r-ome<  not 
Tn  vain  !    Home  and    friends  are   found,   and.   waters 
Sweet  from  many  a  fount  sparkle  o'er  his 


A  Forgotten  Singer  4-9 

Path,  ari'l    fruits  delicious  of  other  climes — 
The  growth  of  sun-bright  Tropics — ripen  to 
Fill  his  hoard;   and  'neat!)  the  genial  rays 
Of  our  glorioiis  sun,  he  forgets  the 
Past. 

Park  oppression  finds  no  cowering 
Votaries   here.      Freedom,   with    her   silver 
Wings,  circles  our  broad  dominions  in  the  bright 
flalo  of  glorv.      Minions  bound  to  the 
(ilillering  car  of  tvrannv  have  seen 
America's    Kagle   perched   high,   and    heard 
His  chant  of  fivi'dom.  and  their  hearts  became 
Fired,  and  with  one  mightv  bound  burst  their  chains. 
That   Fagle's  eve  is  ga/.ing  o'er  the  deep — ev'rv 
Port   is  seen,  each   bright   wing  outspreads  afar, 
Xo  storm  darkens  o'er  its  onward  flight,  or 
Lessens   now   its   strength.      Bright  prosperity 
Follows  upon  his  stainless  track,  and  Peace 
Comes  like  an  Angel  fair,  and  guides  him  on. 
And   o'er  the  distant  world   afar  is  seen 
The  magic   of  their    Love   and    Olory:    and 
Manv  a  proud  heart  is  leaping  now.  and 
Longs  to  tread  their  sunny  way. 

Besides  the  poems  already  given,  and  the 
ones  that  are  to  follow,  I  have  three  of  Mrs. 
Retts's  longer  poems  in  my  possession;  but 
as  this  book  must  be  kept  within  certain  limits, 
I  am  compelled  to  withhold  them.  The  ad- 
verse criticism  against  Mrs.  l.etts's  poems  has 
been  that  they  are  too  loiiti\  She  failed  to 
follow  Kdtrar  Foe's  dictum  literally,  but  when 
she  did  her  poetry  was  much  better. 


50        Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

"  We  are  enabled,"  said  The  Louisville 
Times,  oyer  a  half  century  ago,  "  to  give  to  our 
readers  a  beautiful  poem  from  the  pen  of  one 
who  has,  from  the  commencement  of  The  Times, 
afforded  its  readers  a  communion  with  bright 
thoughts,  clad  in  the  loveliest  hues  of  poesy. 
Among  all  our  correspondents  there  are  none 
whom  we  greet  with  more  cordiality,  and 
whose  muse  affords  us  more  gratification. 
There  is  an  originality  in  her  conceptions,  and 
a  harmony  in  her  numbers,  that  assure  us  of 
the  favors  she  wears  from  the  sacred  Vine." 

Mrs.  Betts's  tribute  to  Italy  reminds  one  of 
Robert  Browning's  lines  in  "  De  Gustibus  "  : 


"  Italy,  my  Italy  !  " 
Queen  Mary's  saying  serves  for  me 
(When   fortune's   malice 
Lost  her  Calais)  : 
"  Open  my  heart,  and  yon  will  see 
Craved  inside  of  it,  '  Italy.'  ' 

Browning  and  Queen  Mary  never  loved  the 
blue  skies  of  sunny  Italy  better  than  this  for- 
gotten Kentucky  poet.  "  Torinne  de  Italia  " 
is  Mrs.  Betts's  best  poem. 

"Bel  a  Italia!  amate  sponde! 

Par  u  'torno  a  riveder: 
Trema  in  petto,  e  si  eonfonde, 
L'alma  oppressa  dal  piacer." 


A  Forgotten  Singer  51 

Sweet  Italy!   I  go  from  thec — 

Go  whore  my  childhood's  home 
Is  bright'ning  in  its  beauty  wild, 

Beyond  the  blue  sea's  foam; 
But  L  go  with  a  bleeding  heart, 

Mv  life's  sweet  dream  is  o'er. 


My  harp  is  hushed,  and  I  can  dream 

Of  beauty  now  no  more! 
Onee.  once  I  thought  the  buds  that  bloomed 

Sweet  in  my   early   spring, 
Would  ever  blossom   beautiful 

And  'round  me  fragrance  lling; 
But,  no!    a  cankering  blight  is  cast, 

O'er  the  radiance  of  earth. 
And  gone  from  my  heart  and  hails  the  tone, 

Of  revelry  and   mirth. 

Can  I  forgive  the  spirit  dark, 

That  crushed  my  heart's  sweet  flow'rs, 
That  came  a  wily  serpent  'mid 

My   own   fair,   sunny   bow'rs, 
And  dimmed  the  last,  sweet  ling  'ring  beam. 

That  danced   upon  my  way, 
And  left  their  cloudy  footprints  deep. 

Of  Sorrow  and  Decay? 
No,  no !    its  dark  remembrance  lives 

Within  my  bosom   lone. 
'Twill   mingle   there   its   dusky   hues, 

Where  light,  once  only  shone. 

But  I  forget,  sweet  Italy, 

My  broken  harp's  last  strain 
Doth  now  essay  to  pour  o'er  thee 

Its  music  sweet  again. 


Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

And  I  will  turn  to  thee,  to  tliee, 

Sweet  land  of  song  and  flow'rs. 
Of   myrtle   groves    and    orange   bloom, 

Where  smile  the  rosy  hours; 
And  in  the  low  soft  tones  that  breathe, 

From  the  bulbul's  plaintive  sigh, 
The  music  of  thy  golden  waves, 

And  light  of  thy  deep  blue  sky — 
I  will  forget  the  bitter  cup 

Of  grief  I've  drained  so  deep, 
I'll  cease  to  pine  o'er  faded  hopes, 

And  o'er  them  sadly  weep. 

Oh,  when  the  music  of  thy  tongue 

Stirs  with  soft  thrills  my  soul, 
And  its  breath  of  song  sweeps  o'er  my  heart 

Its  spell  of  sweet  control, 
Then  dreams,  bright  dreams,  are  mine  again. 

I  live  in  Eden's  bowers, 
I  quaff  the  perfume  sweet  that  breathes 

From   soft  pomegranate   flowers; 
I  lave  my  brow  in  crystal  founts, 

Whose  waters  ever  gleam 
All  cloudless  and  beautiful, 

Beneath  the  sun's  broad  beam  ! 
Again  I  breathe  thy  Poet's  song, 

Again   I   list  his   Lyre. 
Until  mine  own  is  softly  filled 

With  pure  Parnassian  fire; 
And  oh,  I  feel  my  brow  is  bright 

With  the   spirit-light   of   yore. 
When  deep  I  drank  in  other  days 

Thy  rich  and  varied  lore. 

And  o'er  thy  classic  ground  I  rove. 
W'here  many  a  noble  Fane 


A  Forgotten  Singer  53 

Lies  with   its  columned   altars  'neath 

I  >ark    ni ill's    inoid'leriim'   sta i n  ; 
And   in   ihv   picture  hails    I    strav. 

Near   sunny   glade   and    bower, 
Where  near  beside  a  gleaming  fount 

1    plucked    the  orange    Ilo\vcr; 
And  once  again   the  'Filter's  wave 

(ileams  golden   in   the   light. 
And   seems  to   me  as  once   it    >cemed, 

All   beautiful   and   bright! 
The  orange  and  the  lemon  groves 

Fling  'round  their  <rrev  festoons. 
And   breathe  sweet  odor.-  o'er  the  waves, 

From  out  their  snowy  blooms; 
And  oh,  the  morning  breezes  bear 

Sweet  song  upon  their  wings, 
And  tell  a  tale  of  other  days — 

Of   all    their   wonderings — 
And   F  am  Corinne  once  again, 

My  soul  is  flung  o'er  thee, 
"With  all  its  holy  dreams  of  love, 

My  own  sweet  Italy. 

P.ut,   fare  thee  well  !    and   should  the  light 

That  gleams  upon  thy  sky, 
Xe'er  smile  upon  my  fading  cheek, 

Or  in  rny   tireless  eye, 
Yet.   1  will  turn  to  thee,  to  thee, 

Thou    fair  immortal   shore. 
I'll  bless  thee  with  thine  own  sweet  words, 

Till  life's  dark  dream  is  o'er; 
And  like  the  music  tone  that  dwells 

Forever  in  the  deep, 
My  spirit  lone  and  sad,  its  watch 

Of  love  will  o'er  thee  keep. 


54        Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

As  has  already  been  stated,  none  of  the  above 
poems  has  ever  been  published  in  book  form. 
Mrs.  Betts's  most  popular  poem,  "  A  Ken- 
tuckian  Kneels  to  Xone  but  God/'  has  been 
between  pasteboards  three  times :  in  "  Collins's 
History  of  Kentucky,"  1882,  it  is  given,  with 
a  short  biographical  sketch  of  the  author,  in  a 
chapter  entitled  "  The  Poets  and  Poetry  of 
Kentucky " ;  in  1892  Mrs.  Fannie  Porter 
Dickey  used  it  in  her  "  Blades  O'  Bluegrass  " ; 
and  in  1900  Anderson  C.  Quisenberry  printed 
it  in  his  book  entitled  "  Lopez's  Expedition  to 
Cuba,  1850-1851,"  as  he  could  find  nothing 
more  germane  to  his  subject  than  Mrs.  Betts's 
tribute  to  his  hero.  The  poem  was  provoked 
by  the  cruel  treatment  that  Colonel  William 
Logan  Crittenden  received  at  the  hands  of  the 
Cuban  authorities  in  the  filbustering  expedi- 
tions under  Lopez.  Colonel  Crittenden  was 
the  brother  of  former  Governor  Thomas  T. 
Crittenden,  of  Missouri,  and  a  nephew  of  Hon. 
John  J.  Crittenden,  Kentucky's  distinguished 
Senator.  On  August  16,  1851,  Colonel  Crit- 
tenden, with  fifty  others,  was  shot  to  death  by 
the  Cubans.  He,  as  the  leader  of  the  party, 
was  shot  first.  He  refused  to  kneel,  and  then 
uttered  an  expression  that  has  gone  around  the 
world,  "  A  Kentuckian  kneels  to  none  except 
his  God,  and  always  dies  facing  his  enemy !  " 
He  was  then  shot  and  his  brains  beaten  out. 


A  Forgotten  Singer  55 

When,  in  her  far-away  Kentucky  homo,  Mrs. 
Betts  learned  of  Crittenden's  fate,  she  wrote 
her  trihute  to  the  gallant  Keutuckiau,  which 
was  first  published  in  the  Mai/xr/llt'  I''l<t</.  The 
editor  of  The  Flay  introduced  the  poem  with 
these  words:  "The  lines  which  follow  are 
from  one  of  Kentucky's  most  gifted  daughters 
of  song.  Tpon  gentler  themes  the  tones  of 
her  lyre  have  oft  been  heard  to  breathe  their 
music.  To  sing  to  the  warrior,  its  cords  have 
ne'er  been  strung  till  now;  the  tragic  death, 
and  last  and  eloquent  words  of  the  gallant 
Crittenden,  have  caused  this  tribute  to  his 
memorv  " : 


Ah  !  tyrants  forge  your  chains  at  will — 

Xay !  gall  this  flesh  of  mine: 
Yet,  thought  is  free,  unfettered  still, 

And  will  not  yield  to  thine! 
Take,  take  the  life  (hat  Heaven  gave, 

And  let  my  heart's  hlood  stain  thy  sod. 
But  know  ye  not  Kentuckv's  bravo 

Will  kneel  to  none  but  Hod  ! 


You've  quenched   fair   freedom's  sunny  light, 

Her  music  tones  have  stilled. 
And  with  a  deep  and  darkened  blight. 

The  trusting  heart  has   filled! 
Then  do  you   think  that  T  will   kneel 

Where  such  as  you  have  trod  ? 
Xay  !    point  your  cold  and  threatening  steel — 

I'll  kneel  to  none  but  God. 


56        Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

As  summer  breezes  lightly  rest 

Upon   a   quiet   river, 
And  gently  on  its  sleeping  breast 

The  moonbeams   softly   quiver — 
Sweet  thoughts  of  home  light  up  my  brow 

When  goaded  with  the  rod  : 
Yet,  these  cannot  unman  me  now — 

I'll  kneel  to  none  but  God. 

And  tho'  a  sad  and  mournful  tone 

Is  coldly  sweeping  by; 
And  dreams  of  bliss  forever  flown 

Have  dimmed  with  tears  mine  eye — • 
Yet,  mine's  a  heart  unyielding  still — 

Heap  on  my  breast  the  clod ; 
My  soaring  spirit  scorns  thy  will — 

I'll  kneel  to  none  but  God. 

Mrs.  Betts's  poem  was  republished  several 
times  in  American  newspapers  during  the 
Spanish-American  War  in  1898.  The  reprint- 
ing of  it  revived  her  fame  to  a  considerable 
degree.  Although  not  the  best  poem  of  this 
forgotten  Kentucky  singer,  it  is  the  most  popu- 
lar one,  and  upon  it  her  fame  will  rest. 


THE    FIUST    KENTUCKY    HISTORIAN 


THE    FIRST   KENTUCKY    HISTORIAN 

HISTORY  has  failed  definitely  to  decide  which 
State  shall  have  the  only  genuine  claim  upon 
a  great  son :  the  State  of  his  nativity  or  of  his 
adoption.  This  question  especially  presents 
itself  to  the  State  historian.  The  result  has 
hitherto  been  that  both  States  claim  him  as 
their  own.  And  who  can  deny  either  of  them 
the  justness  of  their  claim? 

Kentucky  history  affords  numerous  ex- 
amples of  the  above  stated  question.  The 
great  example  is,  of  course,  Henry  Clay,  born 
in  Virginia,  but  a  son  of  Kentucky  by  adop- 
tion. A  more  modest  illustration  is  John 
Filson,  born  in  Pennsylvania,  but  whose  Ken- 
tucky life  gives  him  his  place  in  American 
history. 

John  Filson,  companion  of  pioneers,  school- 
teacher, surveyor,  biographer,  historian,  was 
born  in  East  Fallowfield,  Chester  County, 
Pennsylvania — Avhen?  The  date  has  been  ap- 
proximately fixed  by  Filson's  authoritative 
biographer  as  1747.  He  was  given  his  grand- 
fathers Christian  name,  and  was  the  second 
son  of  Davison  Filson,  a  prosperous  Pennsyl- 
vania farmer.  Filson  passed  his  boyhood 

59 


60        Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

working  on  his  father's  farm  and  attending 
the  common  school  of  his  native  town.  When 
he  became  a  youth  he  was  sent  to  the  acad- 
emy of  the  Reverend  Samuel  Finley,  situated 
at  Nottingham,  Maryland.  Years  afterward 
Finley  was  elected  fifth  president  of  Princeton 
University.  Finley's  Academy  was  a  good 
one  for  the  times,  and  at  it  Filson  studied  the 
classics,  modern  languages,  and  mathematics, 
lie  afterward  used  his  knowledge  of  the  hu- 
manities when  he  coined  the  word  "  Losanti- 
ville,"  the  original  name  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio; 
and  his  knowledge  of  mathematics  when  lie 
assisted  in  laying  off  the  streets  of  the  Queen 
City. 

John  Filson  did  not  serve  in  the  Revolution- 
ary War,  and,  after  it  was  over,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-six  years,  unmarried,  he  left  his  Penn- 
sylvania home  for  the  beautiful  country  called 
Kentucky,  meaning  the  "  meadowland,"  not 
the  "dark  and  bloody  ground,"  as  tradition 
has  it. 

Filson  arrived  in  Lexington,  Kentucky,  late 
in  1782  or  early  in  the  year  1783.  lie  spent 
his  first  year  in  the  "  Athens  of  the  West," 
teaching  school,  and  collecting  data  for  his 
history  of  Kentucky.  Tradition  says  that  he 
could  ask  more  questions  and  answer  fewer 
than  any  man  of  his  day — a  rather  good  qual- 
ity for  a  biographer  to  possess.  From  Daniel 


The  First  Kentucky  Historian  61 

Boone,  James  llarrod,  Levi  Todd,  Christopher 
Greenup,  William  Kennedy,  arid  John  Cowan, 
Filson  obtained  most  of  his  information.  Only 
one  year  was  required  for  him  to  get  his  little 
book  ready  for  publication,  and  as  there  were 
no  printing  presses  in  the  West  in  those  days, 
he  was  compelled  to  take  his  manuscript  East. 
At  Wilmington,  Delaware,  in  the  year  1784, 
James  Adams  brought  out  Filson's  "  Dis- 
covery, Settlement,  and  Present  State  of  Ken- 
tuekcy-  while  his  map  of  Kentucky,  showing 
the  three  original  counties  of  the  State — .Jef- 
ferson, Fayctte,  and  Lincoln — was  printed  in 
Philadelphia.  The  map  is  the  first  one  ever 
drawn  of  the  State,  and  is  the  only  picture  that 
we  have  of  Kentucky  as  it  looked  nearly  a  cen- 
tury and  a  quarter  ago.  Filson  dedicated  the 
map  to  Congress  and  to  General  George  Wash- 
ington. 

The  first  history  of  Kentucky  contained  one 
hundred  and  eighteen  pages  and  was  divided 
into  two  parts:  the  first  part,  "Discovery, 
Settlement,  and  Present  State  of  Kentncke  " ; 
the  second,  called  the  "Appendix,"  containing 
a  biography  of  Daniel  Boone.  The  sketch  of 
Boone  was  dictated  to  Filson  by  the  "  Old 
Druid  of  the  West,"  and  is,  therefore,  practi- 
cally Boone's  autobiography.  But  Boone 
could  have  eradicated  a  tribe  of  Indians  with 
more  rapidity  and  less  labor  than  he  could 


62        Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

have  put  the  story  of  his  life  on  paper.  For 
this  reason  Filson  is  essentially  Boone's  first 
biographer,  and  also  the  first  Kentucky  biog- 
rapher. His  life  of  Boone  began  with  Boone's 
entrance  into  the  "  beautiful  level  of  Ken- 
tucky," June  7,  1769,  and  traced  his  life  up  to 
1784 — the  year  Filson's  book  was  published. 
In  a  masterly  manner  Filson  depicted  Boone's 
first  view  of  Kentucky,  and  it  is  by  far  the 
best  piece  of  composition  to  be  found  in  the 
work.  A  comparison  of  the  style  in  which  Fil- 
son wrote  an  account  of  the  first  view  of  Ken- 
tucky, given  in  the  main  body  of  his  work,  and 
the  style  in  which  Boone  related  the  first  view, 
is  very  interesting.  Filson,  when  writing  in 
the  first  person,  used  a  quiet  and  dignified 
style;  but  when  Boone  relates  his  adventures 
to  Filson,  the  style  is  very  stilted  and  pedantic. 
The  opening  paragraphs  of  Filson's  narra- 
tive, which  tell  of  the  adventures  in  Kentucky, 
condensed,  are  in  substance  as  follows :  James 
MacBride  first  saw  Kentucky  in  1754.  Then 
it  remained  concealed  until  1767,  when  John 
Finley  visited  it.  Finley  traded  with  the 
Indians  for  a  while,  until  he  got  into  a  dispute 
with  them  and  "  was  obliged  to  decamp."  Back 
in  his  North  Carolina  home  he  told  Col.  Daniel 
Boone  of  the  beautiful  country,  and  in  1769 
Boone,  Finley,  and  several  others  started  back 
for  Kentucky.  "  After  a  long,  fatiguing 


The  First  Kentucky  Historian  63 

march,  over  a  mountainous  wilderness,  in  a 
westward  direction,  they  ( Uoone  and  his  com- 
panions) at  length  arrived  upon  its  borders; 
and  from  the  top  of  an  eminence,  with  joy  and 
wonder  descried  the  beautiful  landscape1  of 
Kentucky."'  Filson  then  goes  on  to  tell  of 
Boone's  and  Finley's  adventures,  and  then  of 
the  explorations  of  Dr.  Thomas  Walker,  of 
Virginia,  and  of  Richard  Henderson,  of  North 
Carolina. 

Here  is  Boone's  account  of  the  discovery  of 
Kentucky:  "  It  was  on  the  first  of  May,  in  the 
year  17<>9,  that  I  resigned  my  domestic  happi- 
ness for  a  time,  and  left  my  family  and  peace- 
ful habitation  on  the  Yadkin  River,  in  North 
Carolina,  to  wander  through  the  wilderness 
of  America,  in  quest  of  the  country  of  Ken- 
tucky, in  company  with  John  Finley,  John 
Stewart,  Joseph  Holder,  James  Monay,  and 
William  Cool.  We  proceeded  successfully, 
and  after  a  long  and  fatiguing  journey, 
through  a  mountainous  wilderness,  in  a  west- 
ward direction,  on  the  seventh  day  of  June 
following,  we  found  ourselves  on  Red  River, 
where  John  Finley  had  formerly  been  trading 
with  the  Indians;  and,  from  the  top  of  an 
eminence  (Pilot  Knob),  saw  with  pleasure  the 
beautiful  level  of  Kentucky."  Boone  then 
proceeds  to  tell  of  his  hardships  in  the  wilder- 
ness of  Kentuckv;  his  troubles  with  the  In- 


6i        Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

dians,  and  the  beauties  of  nature  which 
surrounded  him  on  every  hand.  He  remained 
in  the  wilderness  until  1771,  when  he  returned 
to  his  North  Carolina  home. 

Boone  remained  two  years  in  the  valley  of 
the  Yadkin  before  starting  back  to  Kentucky. 
As  has  been  suggested,  Pilson  does  not  record 
anything  about  Boone's  parentage,  birth, 
early  years,  or  marriage :  he  begins  with  his 
first  explorations  in  Kentucky  and  follows 
his  life  up  to  the  year  his  book  was  published. 
Nevertheless,  all  of  the  old  pioneer's  biogra- 
phers— Bryan,  Flint,  Pock,  Bogart,  Hartley, 
Abbott,  and  Thwaite — have  had  Fil son's  little 
life  as  their  most  valuable  bibliography. 

Looking  at  the  history  as  a  whole,  one  can 
easily  see  that  it  lacks  proportion,  the  first 
part  containing  forty-eight  pages  and  the  sec- 
ond part  seventy  pages,  and  that  Filson's 
picture  of  domestic  life  is  inadequate.  Yet, 
his  book  is  an  early  Western  classic,  and  is 
to-day  pointed  to  with  pride  by  all  loyal  sons 
of  Kentucky. 

One  year  after  the  Wilmington  edition  was 
published,  it  was  translated  into  French,  and 
published  at  Paris  by  M.  Parraud.  The 
French  edition  is  more  numerous  at  the  present 
time  than  the  Wilmington  edition.  Tn  1703 
Gilbert  Imlay,  the  first  Kentucky  novelist,  in- 
corporated Filson's  entire  book  into  his 


The  First  Kentucky  Historian  65 

"  Topographical  Description  of  the  Western 
Country,"  and  Samuel  L.  .Mctcalf  used  tlie  life 
of  Koone  in  liis  "  Narratives  of  Indian  War- 
fare," published  at  Lexington,  Kentucky,  in 
ISL'l,  hut  lie  failed  to  state  that  it  was  written 
by  Filson.  Everytliing  was  done  to  steal  the 
little  history  from  its  real  author  by  reprint- 
ers,  but  fortunately  they  all  failed. 

After  the  publication  of  his  history,  John 
Filson  left  the  State  of  his  nativity  to  become 
a  citizen  of  the  State  whose  history  he  had 
written.  He  left  Pennsylvania  early  in  the 
spring  of  ITS."),  traveling  in  a  two-horse  wagon 
as  far  as  1'ittsburg,  where  he  abandoned  it  for 
a  Kentucky  'flat-boat,  bound  for  the  Falls  of 
the  Ohio — Louisville,  Kentucky.  Filson  had 
as  traveling  companions  a  young  lawyer,  John 
liice  Jones,  and  Jones's  family,  and  after  ar- 
riving in  Louisville  Filson  was  compelled  to 
bring  suit  against  Jones  for  his  part  of  the 
expense  of  the  trip;  but  he  lost  the  suit,  as 
Jones  had  nothing  but  "a  gentleman  cow  "• 
as  AJ vs.  Jones  described  her  husband's  steer. 

During  the  summer  of  1785  Filson  made 
several  trips  into  the  Illinois  country,  probably 
with  the  intention  of  writing  a  history  of  Illi- 
nois, to  be  a  companion  volume  to  his  '"Ken- 
tucky." In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  sold 
his  Pennsylvania  farm,  and  in  December  made 
a  journey  to  Vincennes,  Indiana.  The  year 


66       Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

1786  found  Filson  at  Post  St.  Vincent,  Illinois, 
engaged  in  business  and  in  collecting  data  for 
his  history  of  the  country.  He  never  pub- 
lished his  writings  on  Illinois,  however,  and 
the  manuscripts,  four  in  number,  are  now  in 
the  possession  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical 
Society,  Madison,  Wisconsin. 

Filson  lived  in  Illinois  for  about  six  months 
and  then  returned  to  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio, 
but  left  in  September  for  his  home  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, eight  hundred  miles  distant,  traveling 
on  horseback.  Christmas,  1786,  and  John  Fil- 
son was  once  more  on  his  native  heath,  sur- 
rounded by  his  kinsfolk  and  acquaintances  of 
his  earlier  years.  He  also  made  his  will  at 
this  time,  leaving  his  property  to  his  "  dear 
brother  Robert  Filson  and  his  heirs  forever." 
After  having  lived  the  strenuous  life  for  so 
long,  the  quiet  life  on  the  banks  of  the  beauti- 
ful Brandywine  was  not  to  be  endured  by  this 
day-dreamer  of  the  last  quarter  of  the  eight- 
eenth century.  The  year  1787  found  him  once 
again  in  Kentucky,  engaged  in  litigation  in 
the  courts  at  Danville,  Stanford,  and  Harrods- 
burg.  He  was  himself  sued  by  John  Brown, 
first  United  States  Senator  from  Kentucky, 
for  a  debt  amounting  to  sixty-one  dollars, 
which  Filson  had  borrowed  from  him  some 
years  before. 

In  the  following  vear  Filson  wrote  an  article 


The  First  Kentucky  Historian  67 

for  the  Kentucky  Gazette,  which  had  been  re- 
cently established  by  John  Bradford,  suggest- 
ing that  a  seminary  of  learning,  in  which 
French  was  to  be  taught,  should  be  established 
iii  Lexington.  His  article  was  answered  over 
the  signature  of  "  Agricola/'  and  was  so  sar- 
castic that  Filsoii  decided  to  let  the  matter 
drop. 

In  June,  1788,  Filson  bade  a  fond  farewell 
to  Louisville  in  some  crude,  lovelorn  verses, 
and  left  for  Lexington,  where  he  entered  into  a 
scheme  of  great  magnitude  with  .Robert  I'at- 
tersou,  the  founder  of  Lexington,  and  Mathias 
Deumau,  to  lay  oil'  the  town  of  Losantiville, 
now  Cincinnati.  The  eight  hundred  acres 
that  were  to  constitute  the  future  city  were 
divided  equally  between  the  three  men,  and 
Filson  left  Lexington  for  Losantiville,  where 
he  laid  off  several  of  the  streets.  Then,  one 
day,  he  disappeared  into  the  Miami  Woods, 
and  was  never  seen  again.  Historians  have 
conjectured  as  to  the  manner  of  his  death,  but 
as  was  written  about  the  first  Hebrew  prophet, 
one  may  write  about  the  first  Kentucky  his- 
torian— •"  Xo  man  knoweth  of  his  sepulchre 
unto  this  day." 

Filson  is  remembered  in  the  poetry  of  two 
American  poets, — W.  D.  Gallagher  and  W.  II. 
Venable, — but  the  Filson  Club,  of  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  has  succeeded  in  rescuing  Filson 


68       Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

and  his  work  from  oblivion,  and  in  giving  him 
his  rightful  place  in  Kentucky  history.  The 
Club's  first  publication  was  the  "  Life  and 
Writings  of  John  Filson,''  by  II.  T.  Durrett. 
We  may  safely  say  no  Kentucky  biography  is 
more  charming  or  more  accurate  than  Dur- 
rett's  Filson. 

Kentucky  has  had  nineteen  historians  since 
John  Filson,  but,  prejudice  aside,  we  must 
acquiesce  with  Colonel  Durrett's  opinion,  ex- 
pressed in  "  The  Centenary  of  Kentucky  '•  : 
"  When  we  take  into  consideration  the  little 
history  the  new  State  had  to  be  written  in 
1784,  and  allow  for  the  superior  deserts  of  his 
map  of  Kentucky  and  his  life  of  Boone,  we 
must  candidly  say  that  the  merits  of  his  his- 
tory have  not  been  surpassed  by  those  of  any 
since  written." 


A    FEW    OF    BAKKY'S    LETTERS 


A   FEW   OF    BARRY'S    LETTERS 

Six  letters  of  William  Taylor  Barry  to  Fran- 
cis Preston  Blair,  Sr.,  will  be  prefaced  with  a 
short  sketch  of  Barry.  Born  in  Lunenburg, 
Virginia,  February  15,  1785,  lie  was  brought 
to  Kentucky  when  quite  young,  but  returned 
to  Virginia  to  attend  William  and  Mary  Col- 
lege, from  which  he  graduated  in  1807. 
Shortly  after  graduating,  Barry  returned  to 
Kentucky  and  began  the  practice  of  law  at 
Lexington.  lie  was  a  trustee  of  Transylvania 
University,  and  that  famous  institution  of 
learning  conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Laws.  In  1810  Barry  was  elected 
to  the  National  Ilouse  of  Representatives 
and  served  one  term.  He  was  an  aide  to 
Governor  Isaac  Shelby  in  the  war  of  1812,  and 
was  at  the  battle  of  the  Thames.  He  was 
United  States  Senator  from  Kentucky,  1814- 
1816.  Barry  resigned  his  senatorship  and 
became  an  associate  judge  of  the  Kentucky 
Supreme  Court;  he  was  later  elected  chief- 
justice.  Five  successive  sessions  Barry  was 
elected  speaker  of  the  Kentucky  House,  and 
elected  Lieutenant-Governor  with  John  Adair 
in  1820.  He  was  Secretary  of  State  under 

71 


72       KentucJeians  in  History  and  Literature 

Governor  Joseph  Desha,  Adair's  successor  in 
the  gubernatorial  chair. 

Early  in  1828  he  announced  himself  as  a 
candidate  for  Governor  of  Kentucky  on  the 
Democratic  ticket.  The  letters  given  in  this 
essay  were  written  by  Barry  to  Francis  P. 
Blair,  Sr.  (1791-1876),  who  was  editor  of  the 
Frankfort  Aryus.  From  Lexington,  under 
date  of  March  30,  1825,  Barry  showed  his 
hatred  of  John  Quincy  Adams  and  Henry  Clay, 
and  his  admiration  for  Andrew  Jackson,  and 
made  suggestions  as  to  the  best  way  in  which 
to  carry  the  State  for  the  Democratic  party. 

"My  DEAR  SIR: 

"  I  have  rec'd  yours  of  the  28th,  Inst.  I  have 
ever  thought  that  we  are  laying  too  much 
stres  on  the  Bargain,  and  looseing  sight  of 
more  important  points.  Buckhanan's  speech 
is  to  my  mind,  this  &  Rives',  suit  the  occasion 
best  of  all  that  I  have  read.  The  violation  of 
public  will,  the  alarming  doctrine  of  Safe  pre- 
cedent, the  dangers  of  cabinet  succession,  the 
aristocratic  principle  of  J.  Q.  A.,  his  apos- 
tacy,  hypocracy  &c  His  conduct  in  the  office 
he  fills  his  plunder  of  the  public  treasury  &c 
The  uniform  republican  principles  of  Gen'l 
J.  his  patriotism  &  devotion  to  the  country, 
his  great  services  £  superior  mind,  the  slan- 
ders heaped  upon  him,  the  attacks  on  Mrs.  J. 


A  Few  of  Barry's  Letters  73 

are  all  topics  that  should  be  discussed.  They 
lake  well  with  the  people.  The  people  are 
anxious  where  1  have  been  to  hear  discussion. 
1  addressed  a  numerous  assembly  at  Spring- 
field  as  I  stated  in  my  last.  A  public  speaker 
can  only  excite  &  awaken,  documents  ou^ht  to 
be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  people  to  read. 
Unless  the  Central  Committee  act,  promptly, 
constantly  &  efficiently  we  will  be  beat.  Our 
enimies  are  vigilant.  The  Central  Committee 
oujjht  not  only  to  arouse  themselves,  but  they 
should  address  the  corresponding  Committees 
in  each  County  &  awaken  them.  All  the  Com- 
mitties  should  be  as  active  as  those  of  Safety 
were  in  the  Revolution.  Yv'e  l:;ive  as  much  at 
stake  as  the  friends  of  Freedom  then  had. 
Communicate  documents  &.(.-  by  private  hand 
as  much  as  possible,  send  messengers  if  neces- 
sary. The  Post  Offices  in  the  General  are  tilled 
with  administration  men,  and  we  may  expect 
foul  play.  A  constant  correspondence  should 
be  kept  up  between  the  Committees.  If  a  com- 
mittee in  one  County  resolve  on  a  publication, 
make  it  known  to  others,  who  would  subscribe 
for  numbers  of  the  same;  this  is  still  more  im- 
portant when  the  Central  Committee  intend 
to  publish.  Every  means  should  be  employed, 
that  can  to  unite  and  concentrate1  our  power. 
A  man  from  Boon,  Grant  &  Pendletou  coun- 
ties, tells  me  that  the  country  there  is  flooded 


74       Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

with  Hammonds  paper,  Truths  Advocate,  & 
Clay's  address,  &  that  they  will  do  mischief 
unless  counteracted.  As  to  funds  they  might 
easily  be  raised  upon  the  plan  you  suggest.  I 
have  named  it  to  friends  here,  in  Woodford  & 
Jessamine,  so  often  that  my  pride  revolts  at 
farther  importunity,  least  I  may  be  regarded 
as  supplicating  as  a  favour  to  myself,  that 
which  altho'  beneficial  to  me,  is  still  more  im- 
portant to  the  public  cause,  &  which  but  for 
the  extraordinary  station  I  am  placed  in, 
would  neither  be  wanted  nor  asked  for.  How 
different  do  the  other  party  act,  the  meanest 
&  basest  of  men  when  in  their  employ,  want 
not  for  means.  I  feel  mortified  in  the  reflec- 
tion that  grows  out  of  the  contrast.  You  &  a 
few  other  valued  friends  stand,  ready  to  act 
&  do  all  in  your  power.  But  men  of  wealth 
hold  off,  they  prize  money  above  liberty.  You 
need  not  write  to  Maj'r  Chambers,  he  has  been 
repeatedly  written  to  on  the  subject  but  as 
yet  is  silent.  I  cannot  advise  what  you  should 
do  with  the  Jackson  address,  it  is  not  well  to 
quarrel  with  li-n ;  Po]>e  will  be  able  to  con- 
trol him.  But  you  ought  to  write  a  Pamphlet 
against  Adams  &  circulate  it,  let  him  be  as- 
sailed at  all  points  £  the  contest  marked  dis- 
tinctly between  him  and  Jackson.  This  is  my 
course  &  I  shall  not  be  driven  from  it.  If 
Clay  comes  out  as  you  surmise  &  throws  him- 


A  Few  of  Barry's  Letters  75 

self  into  the  contest,  unless  we  act  impru- 
dently, we  shall  profit,  by  it.  Whilst  Secretary 
of  State  he  cannot  go  about  much.  The  nation 
1ms  already  lost  millions  by  his  inattention  to 
official  duties,  (he  people  are  loud  on  this  sub- 
ject, it  ought  &  will  probably  admonish  him  to 
be  cautious.  Indeed  I  am  not  certain  if  his 
presence  will  not  as  it  did  last  summer  stimu- 
late the  Jackson  men,  who  are  now  supine 
from  too  great  confidence. 

"  Your  friend 

"W.  T.  BARRY 
"  F.  P.  BLAIR,  Esq'r.,  Frankfort." 

Barry  made  a  thorough  canvass  of  Ken- 
tucky, and  as  he  would  stop  at  the  most  im- 
portant towns,  he  would  write  to  Blair  in- 
forming him  of  his  progress  and  the  reception 
he  was  receiving.  From  the  county  seat  of 
the  county  in  which  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
born,  Barry  wrote  this  letter : 

"  HODGIXSVILLE  9th  May  1828 
"  DEAR  SIR  : 

"  T  was  at  Elizabeth  on  Monday,  at  Bran- 
denburgh  Wednesday,  here  today  Battallion 
muster,  tomorrow  at  another  Battallion  about 
10  miles  distant,  at  TTart  Monday  next  &e.  So 
far  prospects  are  flattering.  My  stay  here  is 
necessary  &  has  been  profitable.  Ben  :  Hard  in 


76       Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

was  at  Elizabeth,  but  mounted  his  horse  & 
went  off  jnst  as  I  commenced  speaking.  John 
L.  Helm,  seemed  uneasy  but  made  no  reply. 
Tie  is  whispering  little  stories  to  injure  me. 
The  fact  that  an  execution  for  $8.87/100  in 
favour  of  Elijah  W.  Craig  for  costs  against 
me,  being  returned  "  no  property  found."  This 
little  matter  is  in  every  County  where  I  have 
been.  TTow  it  has  been  managed  I  cannot  tell. 
But  it  is  the  effect  of  management.  When  in- 
formed of  it  at  Frankfort  I  called  at  the  office 
got  a  statement  of  the  amount  of  the  execu- 
tion, transmitted  the  amount  to  James  O.  Har- 
rison, he  called  on  Craig  to  pay  it.  Craig  said 
he  did  not  know  that  I  owed  him,  that  lie  had 
not  ordered  the  execution,  knew  nothing  of 
it,  and  was  relur-tant  to  receive  the  amount. 
He  did  so,  and  Harrison  enclosed  his  receit  to 
me,  with  the  information  T  give  you,  at  Louis- 
ville. I  hope  to  hear  from  the  Sheriff  on  the 
subject  when  T  arrive  at  Salem.  It  is  said  I 
owe  small  mechanics  bills  &  wont  pay  them. 
Tt  is  untrue.  At  present  T  recollect  of  no  bill 
that  T  owe,  T  am  sure  if  any  small  demand 
should  exist,  that  T  can  pay  it  when  presented. 
As  to  some  large  responsibilities,  that  T  am 
involved  in  I  cannot  now  meet  them,  but  shall 
lie  able  to  do  so  in  due  time.  My  property  is 
mortgaged,  to  the  Bank  &  my  securities  who 
stand  responsible  at  Bank  for  me,  not  covered 


A   Few  of  Barry's  Letters  77 

for  purposes  of  fraud.  It  is  open  to  execu- 
tion. The  equity  of  redemption  may  be  sold 
at  any  moment.  Aware  of  this,  I  have  rented 
out  my  house,  hired  out  my  slaves,  devoting 
the  proceeds  to  meet  my  engagements,  my  fam- 
ily are  at  lodgeings  of  the  plainest  kind.  This 
is  the  splendid  style  of  my  living.  Look  at 
(May,  his  mortgages,  his  responsibilities,  his 
almost  regal  splendour,  and  yet  he  is  magnus 
Appollo  of  my  calumniators.  The  Focus  ["?] 
his  in  all  it  says  about  my  speech  amongst 
other  matters  S.  M.  P>ro\vn  said  in  substance 
'that  Clay  had  told  me  before  his  departure 
for  Washington  that  he  intended  to  vote  for 
Adams,  &  accused  me  of  treachery  £c  '  I  re- 
plied &  denied  the  statement  as  made  by  him, 
refused  to  be  interrogated,  &  insisted  that  my 
silence  should  authorise  no  inference  favour- 
able or  unfavourable  to  Mr  Clay.  What  else 
could  T  do?  Silence  would  have  confermed  his 
statement,  to  have4  detailed  \vhat  T  knew,  would 
have  made  me  a  voluntary  witness,  and  ex- 
posed me  to  the  enemies  batteries.  If  the  un- 
certainty of  my  response,  leaves  a  sting,  let  Mr 
Clay  place  it  to  the  account  of  the  agent  his 
friends  choose  to  set  upon  me.  In  self  defence 
I'll  strike  Mr.  Clay  or  any  other  man. 

"  Darby  answered  me  ;>t  Brandenburgh. 
Strange  to  tell,  he  treated  me  with  curtesy, 
said  I  should  receive  in  his  county  the  hospi- 


78       Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

tality  of  a  stranger.  What  is  Beck,  Critten- 
d[en?]  &  Brown,  Thrown  behind  P.  H.  Darby? 
But  he  [illegible]  like  a  fiend  on  Gen'l  & 
Mrs  Jackson. 

"  Present  me  to  my  friends.  Letters  will 
find  me  at  Salem  as  I  go  down  &  at  Russells- 
ville  as  I  come  up. 

"  Your  friend, 

"W.  T.  BARRY. 

"  F.  P.  BLAIR  Esq'r  Frankfort   Ky." 

The  election  was  held  on  August  4, 1828,  and 
Thomas  Metcalf  defeated  Barry  by  709  votes. 
Barry  tells  his  friend  the  causes  of  defeat,  and 
makes  a  correct  prophecy  in  regard  to  Jack- 
son's carrying  Kentucky  in  the  November 
election. 

"LEXINGTON  llth  August  1828 

"  (Confidential) 
"MY  DEAR  SIR: 

"  I  have  received  yours  of  the  10th,  we  are 
probably  beaten  in  the  election  for  Governor. 
The  causes  are  obvious.  Many  ncu:  Court  Clay 
men  opposed  me,  ol<l  Court  men  opposed  me. 
The  friends  of  the  occupants  opposed  me.  The 
lawyers.  Judges  &  whole  official  corps;  opposed 
me.  Monied  men  on  account  of  my  embar- 
ressments  opposed  me.  The  Cabinet  with  all 
its  powers  through  the  Premier  opposed  me. 
All  this  might  have  been  met  &  overcome,  but 


A   Few  of  Barry's  Letters  79 

for  the  indolence,  selfishness,  &  treachery  of 
friends,  against  this  no  human  foresight  can 
guard.  1  was  literally  sacrificed  in  this 
County,  at  least  two  hundred  Jackson  men 
did  not  come  to  the  poles,  last  year  the  Jack- 
son candidates  rec'd  upwards  of  1300  votes, 
this  year  only  1100  &  upwards.  Other  Jack- 
son men  nearly  100  in  number  were  prevailed 
on  to  vote  against  me,  at  the  instance  of  Clay 
&  his  Sattleites  because  as  they  urged  I  was  a 
disorganize!1.  Old  ("apt.  Fowler  deserted  me 
left  home  &  did  not  vote.  Clay  had  called  to 
see  him.  Jn'o  IT.  Morton  &  his  brother  Charles 
did  not  vote.  Jn'o  TV.  Hunt  did  not  vote, 
Col'o  Harry  C.  Payne  did  not  vote,  &  John 
Allen  a  monger  of  the  Jackson  convention 
voted  for  Metealf,  James  B.  January  voted  for 
Metcalf,  so  did  Clifton  &  Asa  Thomas  who 
have  stood  by  me  before  from  my  boyhood  up. 
The  Sheriffs  altho  some  of  them  were  my 
friends  made  no  active  exertion  for  me.  They 
are  making  money  and  a  poor  man  is  not  so 
important  to  them.  In  most  of  the  Counties 
with  many  honourable  exceptions,  the  County 
candidates  shifted  for  themselves,  and  I  had 
to  stand  alone,  not  embodying  the  strength  of 
Jackson  &  with  my  own  diminished  for  the 
causes  stated.  I  have  stood  at  Thermopylae, 
if  I  fall  it  will  not  dispirit,  I  glory  in  it,  the 
highest  post  of  my  life,  is  that  which  carried 


80       Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

me  through  the  ordeal  of  the  late  election. 
The  Country  will  be  saved  at  Plateae  where 
Jackson  commands  in  person.  I  look  to  Nov'r 
with  confidence.  Form  your  plans  at  once,  let 
Pope  take  the  place  of  Chapman,  S.  Smith  of 
Munday,  on  the  electional  ticket  let  the  elec- 
tors, take  to  themselves  certain  Counties,  and 
go  to  work  instantly.  We  think  of  a  great 
Barbacue  in  this  vicinity  free  to  all  the  friends 
of  Jackson  to  which  the  able  men  shall  be  in- 
vited from  all  parts  of  the  State,  &  from  which 
meeting  an  address  shall  issue  suited  to  the 
occasion,  animating  our  friends  &  urging  them 
to  the  poles  in  Nov'r.  What  do  you  think  of 
this,  the  time  &  place  it  should  be  at? 

"  It  is  true  I  have  &  shall  still  suffer  in  pecu- 
niary matters.  Creditors  harrass  me.  I  am 
almost  literally  encamped  in  a  boarding  house 
with  my  family,  because  of  the  unspareing  pur- 
suit of  my  creditors.  Be  it  so,  I  am  calm,  shall 
stand  fast  at  this  point  until  after  Xov,  then 
move  as  instinct  dictates,  but  find  existing  ties 
to  keep  me  here,  but  I  hate  to  yeald  so  fair  a 
portion  of  our  land  to  the  enemy.  Shew  this 
to  tried  friends  &  assure  them,  that  I  com- 
menced a  Militia  man,  I  am  now  a  veteran  in 
the  cause. 

"  Your  friend, 

"W.  T.  BARRY. 

"  F.  P.  BLAIR  Esq'r.  Frankfort  Ky." 


A  Few  of  Barry's  Letters  81 

On  March  0,  1820,  President  Jackson  ap- 
pointed Harry  Postmaster-General  of  the 
United  States.  Jle  was  preceded  in  this  office 
by  a  Kentnckian,  John  M.  .McLean,  and  suc- 
ceeded by  one,  Amos  Kendall.  While  the  of- 
fice of  Postmaster-General  was  created  at  the 
beginning  of  our  National  Government,  Wil- 
liam T.  Harry  was  the  tirst  incumbent  to  be 
raised  to  a  regular  Cabinet  position,  on  equal 
terms  with  the  Secretaries.  From  Washing- 
ton, on  May  13,  1830,  Harry  sent  a  short  letter 
to  Hlair: 

"WASHINGTON  13  May  1830 
"  DKAU  Sin 

"  I  send  you  by  todays  mail  the  Speech  of 
Mr  Livingston  in  Pamphlet  form.  It  is  in  my 
opinion  a  sound  exposition  of  the  Constitution 
&  one  of  the  ablest  delivered  in  the  recent  dis- 
cussion in  the  Senate  of  Mr  Foots  Resolutions. 
Mr  Livingston  shewed  me  a  letter  he  has  rec  d 
from  Mr  Madison,  to  whom  he  sent  one  of  his 
Speeches,  in  which  Mr  Madison  expresses  his 
concurence  in  the  views  of  Mr  Livingston,  and 
of  course  his  disapprabation  of  the  nullifying 
doctrine  of  S.  Carolina.  I  do  not  know  that 
this  letter  is  designed  for  publication,  but  no 
injunction  of  secrecy,  is  imposed,  &  I  name  it 
to  you  that  our  friends  in  Ky,  may  be  ap- 
prized of  Mr  Madison's  sentiments.  The  doc- 
trine of  S.  Carolina  would  lead  to  all  the  evils 


82       Kentuckians  m  History  and  Literature 

of  the  Confederation,  that  of  Mr  Webster,  to 
the  dangers  of  consolidation.  I  send  you  also 
Walsh's  paper  in  which  you  will  find  a  Speech 
of  C.  J.  Ingersooll  Esqr,  (reformed  by  Gen'l 
Jackson)  that  proves  how  strong,  the  Presi- 
dent is  in  the  affections  &  esteem  of  the  people. 
The  President  never  was  in  better  health,  may 
God  preserve  him  for  many  years,  and  you  & 
yours 

"  Very  truly 

"  W.  T.  BARRY 
"  F.  P.  BLAIR  Esqr.  Frankfort    Kentucky." 

Blair  received  a  confidential  letter  from 
Barry,  June  8,  1830.  The  Postmaster-General 
was  very  frank  in  his  opinions  of  men  and 
things : 

"WASHINGTON  8  June  1830 
"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :— 

"  I  enclose  you  a  power  of  Atty  agreeably  to 
your  suggestion,  and  will  write  to  day  to  Gen'l 
Taylor  &  Maj'r  Carneal,  to  give  their  assent 
to  the  removal  of  the  notes,  so  as  to  give  me 
the  benefit  of  time,  to  meet  the  amount  by  con- 
venient installments.  Do  my  dear  fellow  at- 
tend to  this  matter  for  me.  You  say  I  ought 
not  to  have  left  you  in  suspense  about  the  Pres- 
ident's veto,  T  had  yet  a  faint  hope  when  I 
wrote  you  that  a  different  course  would  be 
taken,  &  thought  it  best  to  suggest  it  as  prob- 


A  Few  of  Barry's  Letters  83 

ible  event.  Kendall  informs  me  that  he  has 
written  to  you  about  matters  &  things,  he  can 
find  time  to  write  to  his  friends,  having  passed 
the  ordeal.  You  have  before  this  read  the 
President's  communication.  It  is  an  era  in 
the  political  history  of  our  country.  The  move- 
ment is  bold,  but  it  was  necessary  to  save  the 
Union,  and  prevent  the  accumulation  of  a  Na- 
tional debt.  Virginia  &  the  entire  South  will 
stand  by  him,  so  will  new  York  &  the  Democ- 
racy of  New  England.  You  will  soon  hear 
from  the  Legislature  of  New  Hampshire  on 
the  subject.  Pennsylvania  will  adhere  to  the 
President,  both  that  State  &  Xew  York,  have 
made  their  own  improvements,  and  are  largely 
in  debt  for  them,  they  have  not  &  do  not  look 
to  Geu'l  gov't  for  aid.  Great  National  im- 
provements will  be  acceptable  to  these  great 
States,  such  the  President  will  sanction.  The 
Louisville  &  Portland  Canal,  will  be  sustained. 
On  this  question  the  Cabinet  were  equally  di- 
vided, but  a  few  moments  were  allowed  for 
consideration,  and  the  President,  as  his  Coun- 
cil were  divided,  through  respect  has  taken 
time  to  consider.  Another  matter  operated  to 
induce  this  course,  you  will  see  in  the  Light 
House  Bill  an  appropriation  of  §300  for  sur- 
veying the  falls  on  the  Indiana  side  with  a 
view  to  ascertain  if  the  navigation  of  the  river 
can  be  improved  in  that  way.  If  this  can  be 


8-1        Kentuckians  in  History  and  literature 

done,  which  object  is  most  worthy  of  the  pat- 
ronage of  the  Federal  government?  I  find 
that  our  friends  at  Louisville,  Warden  Pope 
&c  are  in  favour  of  rechartering  the  Bank  of 
the  U.  States,  here  again  we  are  split.  If 
Jackson  lives  we  shall  conquer,  if  he  dies  all 
I  fear  is  lost.  Calhoun,  it  is  thought  from  Mc- 
Duffies  movements  is  to  be  the  Bank  Candi- 
date from  the  South,  but  Clay  will  be  ahead 
of  him.  The  Great  Magician  is  anti-Bank. 
McLean  is  any  thing  or  nothing.  You  see  I 
write  freely,  as  it  is  all  in  confidence.  Lough- 
borough  &  his  lady  have1  arrived  in  good  health, 
but  their  little  one  not  so  well,  its  indisposi- 
tion delayed  them  on  the  road.  Present  me 
kindly  to  your  family  &  believe  me  truly 

"  Yours 

"  W.  T.  BARRY. 
"  F.  P.  BLAIR  Esq.  Frankfort  Kentucky." 

One  of  the  last  letters  that  Barry  wrote  to 
Blair,  before  the  Kentucky  journalist  accepted 
the  invitation  of  President  Jackson  to  come  to 
Washington  and  establish  the  Conf/rrxxifjnaJ 
(ilohc,  was  a  short  one,  written  June  10,  18.30, 
from  Washington.  Again  Barry  stated,  as  lie 
had  done  in  nearly  all  of  the  letters  given  here, 
his  great  admiration  for  his  chief,  Andrew 
Jackson : 


A  Few  of  Barry's  Letters  85 

ki  DKAR  BLAIR 

k>  I  send  you  a  paper,  that  you  arc  not  prob- 
ably in  the  habit  of  receiving.  It  shews  the 
temper  of  the  times  in  S.  ( \  The  Hotspurs  of 
the  South,  if  Adams  had  been  elected  Presi- 
dent, would  have  set  up  for  themselves.  We 
live  at  a  time  when  I  verily  believe  (Jen'l  Jack- 
son alone  as  President  could  save  us  from  the 
borrows  of  civil  War.  1 1  is  Veto  will  calm  the 
disturbed  ocean  of  public  opinion,  the  people 
will  rellect  &  all  will  be  safe. 

''  yours  truly 

"  W.  T.  BARRY 

"  F.  P.  P.LAIR  Esqr  Frankfort  Ivy." 

F.  P.  Blair,  Sr.,  left  Frankfort,  Kentucky, 
and  arrived  in  Washington  City  between  the 
2d  of  November  and  the  12th  of  December, 
1830.  He  founded  the  Congressional  (llobc 
(1830),  and  edited  it  for  the  next  fifteen  years. 
At  Washington,  in  1848,  his  life  of  (Jen.  Win. 
O.  I >utler,  the  Kentucky  soldier-poet,  was  pub- 
lished. (Jen.  Lew  Wallace,  in  his  recently  pub- 
lished autobiography,  puts  Butler's  "  Boat- 
man's Horn"  down  as  one  of  his  favorite 
poems.  This  life  of  Butler  has  always  been 
attributed  to  Blair's  sou,  F.  P.  Blair,  Jr.,  but 
a  copy  found  by  his  grandson  in  the  Library 
of  Congress  revealed  the  real  authorship. 


86       Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

Blair  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  war  be- 
tween the  States. 

Because  of  continued  ill-health,  William  T. 
Barry  resigned  his  Cabinet  position  in  1835, 
and  accepted  the  Ambassadorship  to  Spain. 
Death  overtook  him  on  the  way,  however,  and 
he  died  in  Liverpool,  August  30,  1835.  The 
Kentucky  legislature  had  Barry's  remains 
brought  back  to  Kentucky,  and,  with  the  dust 
of  Charles  Scott,  the  fifth  Kentucky  Governor, 
they  were  reinterred  in  the  State  Cemetery 
at  Frankfort,  November  8,  1854.  Theodore 
O'Hara  delivered  the  funeral  oration  upon 
Barry,  and  it  was  the  best  oration  ever  deliv- 
ered by  Kentucky's  great  poet.  It  may  truth- 
fully be  said,  Kentucky  has  produced  no  other 
man  who  held  as  many  high  offices,  in  a  life 
of  fifty  years,  as  did  William  Taylor  Barry. 


THE    FIKST    KENTUCKY    POET 


THE    FIKST    KENTUCKY    POET 

JOHN  FILSO.V,  the  hisloi-ian;  (Jilbert  linlay, 
(lie  novelist;  and  Thomas  .Johnson,  the  poet, 
are  lirsl  in  the  three  great  (le])artinents  of 
Kentucky  literature  in  point  of  time  only,  and 
not  according  to  the  rank  or  quality  of  their 
productions.  Their  three  little  books  are  of 
interest  because  the  tirst  books  in  the  literature 
of  a  people  are  ahvays  interesting.  As  in  be- 
ginning the  study  of  English  literature  we 
start  with  Caedmon,  Cynewulf,  and  Bede,  or 
in  American  literature  with  Martyr,  Brown, 
and  Bradstreet,  so  in  beginning'  the  study 
of  Kentucky  literature  we  start  with  Filson, 
I  inlay,  and  Johnson,  before  we  study  Collins, 
Allen,  or  O'llara. 

The  founders  of  Kentucky  literature  were 
not  native  Kentuckians.  Filson  was  a  1'eun- 
sylvanian,  Inilay  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  and 
Johnson  first  saw  the  light  in  Virginia.  Ken- 
tucky did  not  have  a  permanent  settlement 
until  1774,  and  as  these  three  men  published 
their  books  before  1800,  it  would  have  been 
unusual  for  a  person  to  be  born  in  Kentucky 
and  write  a  book  before  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. 

89 


90       Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

Thomas  Johnson,  the  son  of  Thomas  John- 
son, was  born  in  Virginia  about  1760.  The 
exact  date  of  his  birth,  like  Filson's  and  I  in- 
lay's, is  unknown.  They  were  all  born  about 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Nothing 
is  known  of  Johnson's  genealogy  or  posterity, 
although  it  is  certain  that  he  emigrated  to  Ken- 
tucky from  Virginia  when  he  was  twenty-five 
years  of  age.  The  Kentucky  Gazette  for  Feb- 
ruary 9,  1793,  notified  Johnson  there  was  a 
letter  for  him  in  the  Danville  post-office.  So 
we  know  that  he  was  living  in  Kentucky  at 
least  three  years  before  his  poems  were  pub- 
lished. 

Looking  over  the  Kentucky  towns,  Johnson 
selected  Danville,  then  in  Mercer  County,  as 
his  future  home.  Danville  was  founded  by 
Walker  Daniel  in  1781,  and  when  Johnson 
reached  there  it  had  a  population  of  one  hun- 
dred souls.  Ten  years  later  Danville  became 
the  first  capital  of  Kentucky,  and  the  very  year 
that  Johnson  became  a  citizen  of  the  little 
settlement  the  famous  Political  Club  was  or- 
ganized. He  undoubtedly  knew  the  leading 
spirits  in  this  Club,  who  were  also  the 
moulders  of  public  opinion  in  the  early  years 
of  the  infant  Commonwealth :  Harry  Innes, 
George  Muter,  Christopher  Greenup,  Samuel 
McDowell,  John  Brown,  and  many  others  of 
equal  prominence. 


TJie  First  Kentucky  Poet  91 

Thomas  Speed,  in  his  history  of  "  The  Politi- 
cal Club,"  prints  a  letter  written  to  the  young 
man  who  was  secretary  of  the  Club,  warning 
him  against  the  gaiety  of  Danville.  "  How  do 
you  like  the  life  you  lead  in  Danville?  Are 
you  not  drawn  into  excesses?  Keep  no  bad 
hours  or  company.  You  deserve  the  char- 
acter you  have  of  a  prudent  man  for  your 
years,  yet  I  fear  the  levity  of  that  place  may 
lead  you  astray.'"  Capt.  Speed  comments :  "  It 
is  difficult  to  think  of  Danville  possessing  the 
allurements  of  a  city  as  early  as  1786."  We 
can  thus  see  environment  had  a  great  deal  to 
do  with  Johnson's  moral  downfall ;  and  what 
it  failed  to  do,  heredity  doubtless  did.  He- 
redity and  environment  earned  for  him  the 
sobriquet — "  the  Drunken  Poet  of  Danville  " 
— which  was  given  years  afterward  to  another 
Danville  poet,  William  Marvin. 

Although  a  drunken  ne'er-do-weel,  Johnson 
wrote  some  good  satirical  verses.  These 
verses  he  collected  and  published  at  Lexington, 
Kentucky,  in  179G,  in  a  small  duodecimo  pam- 
phlet under  the  title  of  "  The  Kentucky  Mis- 
cellany." This  was  the  first  book  of  poems 
published  in  Kentucky.  Filson  and  Imlay 
had  written  their  books  in  Kentucky,  but  had 
published  them  elsewhere;  and,  although  Adam 
Rankin's  "  A  Process  in  the  Transylvania 
Presbytery"  (1793)  was  the  first  book  pub- 


92       Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

lished  in  Kentucky,  Johnson  has  the  honor  of 
publishing  the  first  book  that  can  be  called 
literature  in  any  sense  that  was  issued  in  this 
State.  On  January  16,  1796,  and  also  in  the 
t\vo  succeeding  issues,  The  Gazette  announced 
that  They  had  Johnson's  poems  for  sale  at  nine 
pence  per  copy — about  eighteen  cents.  Some 
of  the  pieces  were  written  probably  a  decade 
before  they  were  published,  and  the  epigram 
on  "  John  "  was  written  in  1776. 

A  second  edition  of  "  The  Kentucky  Miscel- 
lany "  appeared  in  1815,  and  a  third  edition 
a  few  years  later,  but  not  a  single  copy  of  the 
first  three  editions  is  extant.  At  Lexington, 
in  18_!1,  the  fourth  and  last  edition  of  John- 
son's poems  was  printed  at  the  Adua-tixcr 
office.  The  only  extant  copy  was  for  many 
years  in  the  possession  of  liev.  L.  AY.  Seely, 
a  Baptist  minister  of  Frankfort,  Kentucky.  At 
liis  deatli  the  precious  little  volume  fell  into 
the  hands  of  his  son.  Dr.  II.  S.  Seely,  a  Midway 
physician.  Nine  years  ago  Dr.  Seely  died,  and 
as  he  left  no  heirs  his  father's  old  library,  Avith 
the  treasured  lit  lie  "  Johnson,"  was  sold.  The 
one  man  in  Kentucky  who  would  value  such  a 
book  is  R.  T.  Durrett,  and  at  the  Seely  sale  he 
bought  "  The  Kentucky  Miscellany  "  for  a 
mere  song,  and  it  now  occupies  an  honored 
place  in  the  most  complete  library  of  Ken- 
tuckv  books  ever  gotten  together. 


TIic  First  Kentucky  Poet  93 

The  book  contains  only  thirty-six  pages,  is 
mouse-eat  en  at  one  corner,  and  parts  of  the 
best  verses  are  destroyed.  The  following  ex- 
tracts are  reproduced  here,  not  because  they 
are  comparable  to  the  "  f1orn  La\v  Iliines"  of 
Ebenezer  Elliott,  but  because  they  are  pro- 
ductions of  the  first  Kentucky  poet,  and  should 
be  preserved  in  a  more  substantial  form  than 
in  a  paper-backed,  dog-eared  pamphlet.  Ex- 
cerpts only  can  be  given,  not  simply  because 
the  verses  are  badly  mutilated,  but  also  be- 
cause they  are  obscene.  To  prove  that  John- 
son lived  in  an  age  of  vulgarity  and  coarseness, 
one  has  only  to  turn  to  the  files  of  the  early 
Kentucky  newspapers  and  peruse  the  jokes 
to  be  found  there.  Johnson  had  some  educa- 
tion, as  his  verses  testify,  with  a  sprinkling  of 
satiric  genius.  Like  "Hums,  he  was  never  able 
to  bury  John  Barleycorn  alive.  One  day, 
while  drunk,  he  stumbled  into  the  famous  old 
Danville  Tavern,  kept  by  Erasmus  Gill.  Din- 
ner was  over  and  he  found  nothing  but  the 
crumbs.  After  looking  at  the  table  some  mo- 
ments he  offered  his  famous  "  Extempore 
Grace  " : 

0  !   Thon  who  blest  the  loaves  and  fishes 
Look  down  upon  these  empty  dishes: 
And  flint  same  power  that  did  them  fill, 
Bless  each  of  us.  but  d old  Gill. 


94*       KentucJcians  in  History  and  Literature 

To  William  Gill,  whom  Johnson  supposed 
to  be  dead,  he  presented  these  lines : 

Here  lies  the  corpse  of  Billy  Gill, 
Whom  cruel  Crow  in  rage  did  kill. 
"Beneath  this  stone  he  safely  lies, 
Xo  orphans  mourn,  no  widow  cries; 
His  happy  children,  happy  wife, 
Freed  from  oppression,  freed  from  strife, 
Join  in  the  shout,  proclaim  the  joy, 
He's  gone  who  did  our  peace  destroy. 

The   two   following  poems  show   Johnson's 
opinion  of  the  town  and  State  of  his  adoption : 

Accursed  Danville,  vile,  detested  spot. 
Where  knaves  inhabit,  and  where  fools  resort — 
Thy  roguish  cunning,  and  thy  deep  design, 
Would  shame  a  Bluebeard  or  an  Algerine. 
0  may  thy  fatal  day  be  ever  curst, 
When  by  blind  error  led,  I  entered  first. 


T  hate  Kentucky,  curse  the  place. 

And  all  her  vile  and  miscreant  race! 

Who  make  religion's  sacred  tie 

A  mask  thro'  which  they  cheat  and  lie. 

Proteus  could  not  change  his  shape, 

Xnr  -Tupiter  commit  a  rape. 

With  half  the  case  those  villains  can 

Send  prayers  to  God  and  cheat  their  man  ! 

T  hate  all  Judges  here  of  late. 

And  every  Lawyer  in  the  State. 

Each  quack  that  is  called  Physician, 

And  all  blockheads  in  Commission — 


The  First  Kentucky  Poet  95 

Worse  than  the  Baptist  roaring  rant, 
I    hale  the   Presbyterian  cant  - 
Their  Parsons,  Elders,  nay  the  whole. 
And  wish  them  gone  with  all  my  soul. 

The  Mercer  County,  Kentucky,  election  for 
the  year  1787  elicited  the  following  verses: 

From   low  and   abject   themes   my  groviling  muse 

Now  upward  soars,  and  loftier  subjects  ehuse; 

Mercer's  grand  election  here  display, 

And  sing  the  glories  of  that  pompous  day. 

M'Dowell,  .louctt,   Taylor,   take  their  place 

With  panting  breast,  each  anxious  for  the  race; 

Soon  , louctt  mounts  his    Pegasus  on  high, 

And  Taylor's  rugged  rullians  rush  him  high; 

In  sullen  gloom,  M'Dowell  moves  along, 

Xor  hopes   for  suffrage  from  the  blackguard  throng. 

All  vote  for  Taylor,  Tavlor  ev'ry  soul ; 

And  Mercer  pours  her  tilth  on  Taylor's  poll. 

During  Johnson's  day  a  meeting  of  the 
county  lieutenants  was  held  in  Danville,  in 
order  to  regulate  the  militia.  The  village  poet 
invoked  from  Jupiter  these  lines: 

When  Greece  with  Troy  waged  war. 
Jove  mounted  his  imperial  car, 
Descended  straight  (so  Homer  says) 
On  Ida's  top  in  all  his  blaze; 
From  whence  he  could  both  hosts  survey. 
And  whence  he  thunder'd  "  part  the  fray." 
I  pray,  dear  Jove,  once  more  come  down. 
And  take  a  view  of  Danville  town; 


96       Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

See  our  great  Col'nels  here  below, 
Debating  what  they'll  never  know, 
But  lest  some  mischief  may  befall, 
Bring  thunder,  Jove,  and  scatter  all; 
Disperse  the  tyrants  far  away, 
And  we  in  duty  bound  will  pray. 

Near  Danville  a  certain  William  Hudson 
murdered  his  wife,  and  the  crime  moved  John- 
son's epigrammatic  muse  to  say : 

Strange  things  of  Orpheus  poets  tell. 
How  for  a  wife  he  went  to  Hell ; 
^,      Hudson,  a  wise  man  no  doubt, 
Would  go  to  Hell  to  be  without. 

Probably  the  kindest  of  the  eight  epitaphs 
given  in  "  The  Kentucky  Miscellany  "  is  one 
the  author  wrote  for  a  dog: 

Here  lies  the  corpse  of  little  Cue. 
Whose  heart  was  honest,  good  and  true. 
Why  not  preserve  her  memory  then, 
Who  never  yet.  like  faithless  men, 
Concealed   in  smiles  a  mortal  spite. 
Xor  fawned  on  them  she  meant  to  bite? 

Johnson  fell  deeply  in  love  with  a  young 
woman  to  whom  he  addresses  two  poems  given 
in  his  book.  Miss  Polly  Armstead  was  the 
real  or  poetical  name  of  the  woman.  Before 
telling  her  of  his  love,  he  thought  it  better  to 
first  break  the  news  to  Dr.  John  Reid. 


The  First  Kentucky  Poet  97 

Did   Hippo  sore  my  mind   perplex. 
Or  aches  and  pains  mv  body  vex; 
1    for  the    Doctor  then   would    send. 
And  hope  relief   from  such  a  friend. 
Jhit  love's  the  pain  that   I   endure, 
The  sole  disease  you  cannot  cure; 
I  love,  hut  am  not  lov'd  airain, 
()  curse  of  curses,  cruel   pain  ! 
Tis  this  deprives  my  soul  of  rest, 
And  fills  with  care  mv  troubled  breast. 


Then  to  Miss  Polly  herself  Johnson   tunes 
his  lyre : 

To  sin  of  of  Polly,  lovely  maid, 
Requires  no  fabled  muse's  aid  : 
Her  charms  can  inspiration  "five. 
And   make   her  poets   numbers   live. 
Venn?,  thy  throne  of  beautv  yield: 
Xor  love  dispute  with  her  the  Held  ; 
Thou  ne'er  had  won  the  golden  prize. 
Had  Paris  viewed  my  Polly's  eyes. 
Tn  vain  the  Goddess  would  compare. 
With  her  for  feature,  shape  and  air; 
Tn   Pallas'  self,   alas!    we   find 
But  a  weak  emblem   of   her   mind. 
Observe  the  diamond's  lucid   blaze, 
Dartinpr   forth   its  sparkling  rays; 
The<e  shining  charms  could  never  vie 
With  ch arming  Polly's  brighter  eve. 
The  crow  who  mounts  on  pmion  hi^h. 
And  seems  to  pierce  the  azure  sky. 
His    sable    plume,    however    rare. 
Is  white,  compared  with  Polly's  hair. 


98        KentucJiians  in  History  and  Literature 

The  second  poem  shows  that  Miss  Armstead 
was  quite  indifferent  to  Johnson's  affection, 
and  the  concluding  lines  are  a  lover's  lament 
over  wasted  love : 

Bnt  kind  heaven  forbid  that  she  should  know 
Pains  like  mine,  or  feel  such  scenes  of  woe: 
Whate'er  my  fate  may  he.  may  hliss  he  thine. 
And  still  he  guarded  by  the  powers  Divine. 

Johnson  told  the  truth  about  himself  in  the 
opening  lines  of  one  of  his  longer  poems: 

Hail  Danville !  ITail !  where  Johnson  shines. 
The  hero  of  his  blackguard  rhymes! 
Whose  limber  pen  and  polite  brains. 
Turns  epic  into  dog'rel  strains. 

A  man  in  Johnson's  neighborhood,  known 
as  John,  had  become  largely  indebted  to  Dan- 
ville merchants  arid  then  left  the  town.  John- 
son consoled  the  sufferers  with  the  following: 

John  ran  so  long  and  ran  so  fast. 
Xo  wonder  he  ran  out  at  last : 
He  ran  into  debt,  and  then  to  pay. 
\  He  distanced  all  and  ran  away. 

David  Rice,  the  founder  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  Kentucky,  had  bought  land 
on  the  faith  of  his  congregation  paying  for 
it.  The  payment  was  deferred  until  the  sheriff 
was  ready  to  cast  Rice  into  prison.  While  he 
was  under  the  sheriff's  eye,  communion  day 
came  around.  Rice  refused  to  administer  the 


The  First  Kentucky  Poet  99 

sacrament  on  the  ground  that  it  was  not  right 
to  admit  persons  to  the  holy  table  who  refused 
to  pay  their  debts.  Naturally  a  sensation  was 
created,  and  Rice's  action  became  Johnson's 
song.  lie  wrote  the  following  satire  and 
nailed  it  to  the  church  door:  "  On  Parson  Rice, 
Who  Refused  To  Perform  Divine  Service  Till 
1 1  is  Arrears  Were  Paid." 

Ye  fools  !    T  told  you  once  or  twice, 
You'd  hear  no  more  from  canting  R — o; 
Tie  cannot  settle  his  all'airs, 
Xor  pay   at  tout  ion   unto  prayers, 
"Tnless  you  pay  up  your  arrears. 
Oh,  how  in  pulpit  he  would  storm, 
And  fill  all  hell  with  dire  alarm! 
Vengeance  pronounced  against  each    vice, 
And,  more  than  all,  curs'd  avarice: 
Preaeh'd  money  was  the  root  of  ill; 
Consigned  each  rich  man  unto  hell ; 
r>ut  since  he  finds  you  will  not  pay. 
Both  rich  and  poor  may  go  that  way. 
'Tis  no  more  than   I  expected — 
The  meeting-house  is  now  neglected  : 
All  trades  are  subject  to  this  chance, 
Xo  longer  pipe,  no  longer  dance. 

P>y  far  the  best  poem,  and  in  fact  the  only 
verses  that  Johnson  ever  wrote  that  can  be 
said  to  contain  real  poetry,  is  his  "  Panegyric 
on  Doctor  Fields."  Only  an  extract  is  extant: 

Oh.  could  T  reach  the  true  sublime: 
With  energy  of  thought   in   rime. 
ATv  verse  should   far  inscribe  thy  name. 
Tn    standing   monuments   of   fame; 


100     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

Long  as  my  life  its  course  should  run, 
Till  all  the  fatal  thread  be  spun; 
Each  morning  earl}-  as  I  rise, 
Each  evening  ere  I  close  my  eyes : 
When  I  adore  the  Unseen  Above, 
In  whom  I  live  and  whom  I  love, 
And  pay  the  reverential  praise 
For  all  the  blessings  of  my  days, — 
In  that  memorial  first  shall  stand 
His  mercy  by  thy  saving  hand; 
'Bove  all  the  joy  that  fortune  yields, 
I  bless  my  God  for  Doctor  Eields. 

This  poem  plainly  shows  Johnson's  love  for 
God  and  God's  good  man.  lie  himself  con- 
fessed that  he  was  nothing  but  a  rimester,  for 
he  hated  cant  and  hypocrisy. 

Colonel  William  Christian  was  one  of  the 
many  Virginia  soldiers  of  the  Eevolution  who 
settled  in  Kentucky  after  the  war.  lie  was  a 
member  of  the  Virginia  legislature  for  a  short 
time.  In  April,  1780,  he  was  engaged  in  a 
bloody  conflict  with  Indians,  and  was  killed 
by  them.  Christian  County,  Kentucky,  was 
named  in  his  honor.  When  the  news  of  his 
death  reached  Danville  our  poet  wrote  the 
following  epitaph  for  the  soldier: 

To  great  and  noble  tilings  a  transient  date 

And   sudden  downfall  is  decreed   by  fate! 

Witness  the  man  who  here  in  silence  lies. 

Whom  monarchs  misrht  have  viewed  with  envious  eves. 


The  First  Kentucky  Poet  101 

Knowing  that  the  first  Kentucky  historian 
and  the  iirst  Kentucky  novelist  sleep  in  un- 
known graves,  I  went  to  Danville  to  ascertain 
the  last  resting-place  of  the  first  Kentucky 
poet.  With  the  assistance  of  several  members 
of  the  Scribbler  Club,  1  searched  through  the 
old  Presbyterian  graveyard  for  Johnson's 
grave,  but  failed  to  find  it.  An  examination 
of  the  files  of  the  Kentucky  Uazctlc  and  Ken- 
tucky Reporter.,  from  1790  to  1825,  showed  no 
reference  to  the  date  of  his  death.  It  may  be 
approximately  fixed  as  occurring  during  the 
first  quarter  of  the  last  century. 

Johnson  wrote  his  own  epitaph,  and  if  the 
Danville  people  of  his  day  erected  a  little  tomb- 
stone to  his  memory,  this  epitaph  was  prob- 
ably inscribed  upon  it: 


,{ 

Underneath  this  marble  tomb, 
In  endless  shades  lies  drunken  Tom; 
Here  safely  moored,  dead   as  a  log, 
Who  got  his  death  by  drinking  grog. 
By  whisky  grog  he  lost  his  breath — 
Who  would  not  die  so  sweet  a  death? 


>s 

/ 


Surely,  the  student  of  Kentucky  letters  wltt 
say,  it  is  a  far  cry  from  the  crude  verses  of 
Thomas  Johnson  to  the  exquisite  lyrics  of 
Madison  Cawein. 


OLD    KING    SOLOMON 


OLD  KING   SOLOMON 

OLD  KING  SOLOMON  is  the  unique  unicity  of 
Kentucky  history.  Only  one  other  Kentuck- 
iun,  Thomas  Johnson,  the  State's  first  poet,  is 
comparable  to  him  in  regard  to  uniqueness  of 
character.  They  are  both  the  hero-drunkards 
of  our  history.  King  Solomon,  sobering  up  in 
time  to  become  the  hero  of  the  most  dreadful 
year  that  has  ever  swept  down  upon  the  blue- 
grass  region ;  Thomas  Johnson,  sobering  up  in 
time  to  write  the  first  book  of  poems  that  was 
published  in  Kentucky,  are  companion  spirits 
and  deserve  an  honored  place  in  the  history  of 
the  Commonwealth. 

William  Solomon,  to  give  him  his  real  name, 
was  born  in  that  part  of  Virginia  known  as 
the  "  Slashes,"  two  years  before  the  birth  of 
Henry  Clay,  or  about  1775.  He  claimed  to 
have  been  a  playmate  of  Clay,  and  always 
referred  to  the  Sage  of  Ashland  as  "  Henry." 
Solomon  emigrated  from  Virginia  to  Ken- 
tucky at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury and  settled  in  Lexington.  He  became  a 
cellar-digger,  and  for  some  years  followed  this 
occupation,  until  whiskey  got  the  upper  hand 
and  he  did  nothing  but  sit  on  the  curbstone,  in 

105 


106     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

a  drunken  condition,  and  smoke  the  stubs  of 
Clay's  cigars.  William  Solomon  earned  his 
title  of  "  King  "  in  the  following  manner :  One 
day,  while  intoxicated,  he  was  employed  to 
trim  a  tree  in  the  court-house  yard.  He  got 
out  on  a  long  limb  and  cut  it  too  close  to  the 
body  of  the  tree,  when  it  snapped  olf  and  let 
him  fall  to  the  ground.  His  great  wisdom  in 
tree  trimming  quickly  earned  for  him  the  title 
of  King  Solomon — after  the  wisest  man  of  his- 
tory. Finally  he  became  so  utterly  worthless 
that  he  was  tried  and  sentenced  to  be  sold 
for  vagrancy.  This  was  in  the  summer  of 
1833.  At  the  beginning  of  this  year  Lexing- 
ton was  preparing  to  entertain  Daniel  Web- 
ster, Clay's  mighty  rival.  As  the  clock  struck 
the  hour  of  noon  of  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
days  of  that  eventful  summer,  Sheriff  Thomas 
Brown  stepped  out  upon  the  court-house  steps, 
followed  closely  by  a  powerful  man  with  a 
deep  chest,  strong  arms,  a  mass  of  red  hair 
that  had  not  been  combed  for  weeks,  blurred, 
bloodshot  eyes— such  was  old  King  Solomon. 
After  making  a  humorous  speech,  the  sheriff 
"  knocked  off  "  the  Old  King  to  Aunt  Char- 
lotte, an  old  negress  who  sold  pies  and  ginger- 
bread, and  had  known  Solomon  when  lie  was 
a  little  boy  playing  with  her  young  master  in 
Virginia.  She  and  the  King  were  the  surviv- 
ing members  of  that  little  company  of  Vir- 


Old  King  Solomon  107 

ginians  from  the  same  neighborhood  that  had 
(.'migrated  to  Kentucky  in  the  early  part  of 
the  century. 

James  Lane  Allen,  in  his  story  of  King 
Solomon,  says  that  Aunt  Charlotte  bought  the 
King  for  thirteen  dollars,  but  Ranck's  "•  llis- 

i!*D»M*IM«MIM»Mi**"'   -.  ,  i    j.     i    • 

tory  of  Lexington  says  that  she  bought  him 
for  eighteen  cents,  and  that  he  was  a  good 
imx'stmeiTfptsr^Ttrearned  her  seventy-five  cents 
a  day.  Both  of  these  writers  claim  to  tell  the 
true  story  of  Solomon's  life,  so  we  simply  have 
another  case  of  two  Kentucky  authors  dis- 
agreeing, which,  by  the  way,  has  not  been  an 
uncommon  occurrence  with  our  State  histori- 
ans. At  any  rate,  Aunt  Charlotte  bought 
Solomon  and  took  him  to  the  little  home  that 
she  had  purchased  by  selling  pies  and  ginger- 
bread. 

The  night  of  the  day  upon  which  King 
Solomon  was  sold,  M.  Xaupi,  a  gamin  of  the 
French  Revolution,  gave  a  ball  in  the  dancing- 
room  over  the  confectionery  of  M.  Giron.  Men 
and  women  from  all  over  central  Kentucky 
were  present;  among  them  the  beautiful  Helen 
Foster,  of  Mississippi,  who  had  recently  mar- 
ried Richard  Allen,  of  Kentucky.  She  wore 
her  famous  wedding-dress,  afterwards  de- 
scribed by  her  gifted  son  as  "  a  white  satin  with 
ethereal  silk  overdress  embroidered  in  an  oak- 
leaf  of  green."  King  Solomon  had  witnessed 


108     KentucJcians  in  History  and  Literature 

this  ball  from  a  sheltering  doorstep  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  street.  Early  in  the  morn- 
ing he  went  to  the  home  of  Aunt  Charlotte  and 
retired  in  the  bed  which  she  had  prepared  for 
him. 

The  next  day  the  dreaded  cholera  reached 
Lexington,  and  every  one  who  could  leave  town 
did  so.  Those  that  remained  were  paralyzed 
with  fear.  In  less  than  ten  days  fifteen  hun- 
dred were  prostrated,  and  dying  at  the  rate  of 
fifty  a  day.  Of  one  family  of  nineteen  mem- 
bers, seventeen  died.  Persons  were  buried  in 
long  trenches,  and  in  boxes  and  trunks  when 
the  coffins  gave  out.  Aunt  Charlotte  entreated 
Solomon  to  leave  town,  but  he  saw  that  the 
physicians,  ministers,  and  even  the  grave-dig- 
gers were  dead  or  dying,  and  he  resolved  to 
stay  and  bury  the  dead.  Asking  Aunt  Char- 
lotte for  his  mattock  and  spade,  he  emerged 
into  the  street,  resolved  to  serve  the  people 
who  had  laughed  him  to  scorn.  King  Solo- 
mon is  an  excellent  example  of  the  old  rule  that 
crises  make  men.  For  weeks  he  dug  the  graves 
of  the  people  who  had  made  sport  of  him  when 
they  were  living. 

In  the  old  grave-yard  on  Short  Street,  where 
the  Baptist  church  now  stands,  Solomon  dug 
graves  all  summer.  lie  became  the  man  of 
the  hour,  and  the  people  who  had  cursed  him 
for  his  worthless  life  now  praised  him  in  the 


Old  King  Solomon  109 

work  that  he  was  doing.  The  very  dogs  had 
howled  execrations  against  him,  but  now  even 
the  dogs  licked  his  hands,  and  little  children 
clung  tenderly  to  him  as  the  man  who  had 
buried  the  bodies  of  their  parents.  The  Fourth 
of  July  of  this  year  was  spent  by  the  people  in 
fasting  and  prayer  instead  of  revelling.  But 
"  Nature  soon  smiles  upon  her  own  ravages 
and  strews  our  graves  with  tlowers."  The 
autumn  brought  relief,  and  the  students  of 
Transylvania  University  were  back  in  the 
"  Kentucky  Birmingham  7"  once  more.  Friends 
met  friends  again,  and  among  them  Aunt  Char- 
lotte and  Old  King  Solomon  were  cynosures  of 
all  eyes.  When  court  opened.  Solomon  went 
to  the  court-room,  where  the  judge  shook  his 
hand,  as  did  all  the  members  of  the  bar  that 
had  survived  the  dreadful  plague.  He  had 
buried  the  judge's  wife  and  daughter  one 
cloudy  midnight,  and  also  many  of  the  law- 
yers and  their  relatives.  This  day  was  the 
"  coronation  scene  in  the  life  of  King  Solomon 
of  Kentucky.-'  A  few  years  later,  General 
Samuel  Woodson  Price,  the  blind  soldier-artist 
and  author  of  "  The  Old  Masters  of  the  Blue 
Grass,"  painted  a  picture  of  Solomon,  which 
was  placed  in  the  Pho?nix  Hotel,  and  which 
was  awarded  a  medal  at  the  Cincinnati  Exposi- 
tion some  years  ago.  After  the  cholera  was 
over,  Old  King  went  back  to  his  former  habit 


110     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

of  smoking  Clay's  cigar  stubs  and  drinking 
grog.  He  only  consented  to  sit  for  his  pic- 
ture after  General  Price  had  promised  to  give 
him  all  the  grog  he  could  drink  and  all  the 
cigars  he  could  smoke.  On  November  22, 
1854,  King  Solomon  died.  He  survived 
"  Henry  "  something  over  two  years,  and  went 
down  to  his  grave  an  ardent  Whig,  and  a  man 
who,  although  a  vagabond,  had  never  sold  his 
vote  for  lucre.  Like  Thomas  Johnson,  King 
Solomon  lost  his  breath  by  whiskey,  and  he 
also,  like  Johnson,  could  ask,  "Who  would 
not  die  so  sweet  a  death?  " 

Some  years  ago  his  grave  was  hunted  out 
in  the  Lexington  Cemetery  and  marked  with 
a  little  tombstone.  It  is  in  the  shadow  of 
Clay's  monument,  and,  as  in  life,  so  in  death 
he  is  overshadowed  by  the  "  Great  Commoner." 

In  1891  James  Lane  Allen  published  his 
first  book,  entitled  "  Flute  and  Violin,  and 
Other  Kentucky  Tales."  This  book,  which  is 
now  generally  admitted  to  be  Allen's  master- 
piece, contains  a  story  of  "  King  Solomon  of 
Kentucky."  While  it  is  based  on  facts,  it  is 
one  of  the  most  striking  stories  that  Kentucky's 
foremost  novelist  lias  given  to  the  world.  It 
has  immortalized  Solomon  in  story  as  Price 
had  previously  done  in  art. 


THE    FILSON    CLUB 


THE    FILSON    CLUB 

THE  Filson  Club,  named  in  honor  of  John  Fil- 
son, the  first  Kentucky  historian,  was  or- 
ganized in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  May  15,  1884, 
by  ten  historically  inclined  Kentuckians:  Col. 
R.  T.  Durrett,  Gen.  Basil  W.  Duke,  Richard 
II.  Collins,  John  M.  Brown,  James  S.  Pirtle, 
Thomas  W.  Bullitt,  Alexander  P.  Humphrey, 
William  Chenault,  George  M.  Davie,  and 
Thomas  Speed.  These  ten  men  were  all  citi- 
zens of  Louisville. 

Colonel  Durrett  was  elected  as  the  club's 
first  president,  and  he  has  served  in  this  capac- 
ity for  twenty-three  years.  He  may  be  rightly 
considered  the  founder  of  the  Filson  Club. 
Reuben  Thomas  Durrett  was  born  in  Henry 
County,  Kentucky,  January  22,  1824.  He 
studied  for  two  years  at  Georgetown  College 
and  then  went  to  Brown  University,  graduat- 
ing in  the  class  of  1849.  The  following  year 
he  studied  law  at  the  University  of  Louisville 
Law  School,  and  for  the  next  thirty  years  he 
was  a  leading  Louisville  attorney.  For  a 
time  Colonel  Durrett  was  one  of  the  editors 
of  the  LouisriUe  Daily  Courier,  and  in  1871 

113 


Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

he  founded  the  Public  Library  of  Kentucky. 
Georgetown  College,  Brown  University,  and 
the  University  of  Louisville  have  conferred  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  upon  him.  Intel- 
lectually and  physically,  Colonel  Durrett  is 
a  magnificent  man. 

Col.  Josiah  Stoddard  Johnston  was  elected 
as  the  Filson  Club's  vice-president.  He  is  a 
nephew  of  the  famous  Kentuckian,  General 
Albert  Sidney  Johnston.  Colonel  Johnston 
was  born  in  New  Orleans,  February  10,  1833, 
and  graduated  at  Yale  in  his  twentieth  year. 
For  twelve  years  he  was  president  of  the  Yale 
Alumni  Association  of  Kentucky.  Colonel 
Johnston  has  been  a  lawyer,  planter,  Confed- 
erate soldier,  politician,  author,  journalist, 
and  in  all  distinguished.  He  is  now  one  of  the 
editors  of  the  Courier-Journal. 

Captain  Thomas  Speed  was  elected  secre- 
tary of  the  Filson  Club,  and  served  for  twenty 
years,  until  his  death,  which  occurred  a  year 
or  more  ago.  Captain  Speed  was  born  in 
Bardstown,  Kentucky,  in  1841,  and  was  edu- 
cated at  Centre  and  Hanover  Colleges.  He 
was  a  gallant  Union  soldier  during  the  civil 
war.  After  the  war  Captain  Speed  studied 
law  at  the  University  of  Michigan,  and  prac- 
ticed in  partnership  with  James  Speed, 
Abraham  Lincoln's  Attorney-General.  From 
July  9,  1892,  until  his  death,  Captain  Speed 


The  Filson  Club  115 

was  Clerk  of  the  United  States  Circuit  and 
District  Courts  in  the  district  of  Kentucky. 

The  Kentucky  Title-Savings  Bank  was  ap- 
pointed as  the  treasurer  of  the  Filson  Club, 
and  has  been  continued  in  that  office  to  the 
present  time.  It  was  decided  not  to  sell  the 
Club  publications,  in  the  commercial  sense, 
but  to  distribute  them  among  the  four  hun- 
dred members  at  $3  per  copy.  This  payment 
also  covers  the  membership  dues. 

The  meetings  of  the  Club  are  held  on  the 
first  Monday  night  in  every  month,  except 
July,  August,  and  September,  when  the  sum- 
mer vacation  occurs,  at  Colonel  Durrett's  resi- 
dence, -2(Y2  East  Chestnut  Street.  They  may 
be  divided  into  three  parts:  the  business  meet- 
ing, the  literary,  and  then  the  social  side  of  the 
program.  The  business  meeting  over,  which  is 
mostly  taken  up  with  the  election  of  new  mem- 
bers, Colonel  Durrett  introduces  the  reader 
of  the  paper.  If  a  lady,  the  men  rise  from  their 
chairs  and  bow.  After  the  paper  is  read,  comes 
the  discussion,  in  which  not  only  the  points 
brought  out  in  the  paper  of  the  evening  are 
discussed,  but  the  members  delight  in  aug- 
menting it  many  times  by  personal  reminis- 
cence. If  a  member  has  no  business  to  bring 
before  the  Club,  no  paper  to  read,  no  word  of 
testimony  to  give,  then  the  last  number  on  the 
program  is  one  in  which  he  can  take  part— 


116     KentucTfians  in  History  and  Literature 

that  is,  to  drink  some  of  "  the  Colonel's  cider  " 
and  smoke  one  of  Mr.  BickeFs  Filson  Club 
cigars.  Every  good  member  of  the  Club,  re- 
gardless of  age,  sex,  or  previous  condition  of 
servitude,  is  expected  to  drink  a  glass  of  cider ; 
smoking  is  optional. 

The  Filson  Club  was  not  founded  for  feast- 
ing, however,  but  for  serious  historical  work. 
It  was  "  established  for  the  purpose  of  collect- 
ing and  preserving  the  history  of  Kentucky, 
the  biography  of  its  citizens,  and  the  tradi- 
tions of  its  pioneers."  This  task  it  has  faith- 
fully performed. 

The  first  publication  of  the  Filson  Club  was 
issued  in  1884,  the  year  the  Club  was  founded, 
and  just  a  century  after  the  publication  of 
John  Filson's  quaint  little  volume.  It  was 
eminently  fitting  that  the  founder  of  the  Club 
should  be  the  author  of  the  first  publication, 
and  also  that  the  subject  treated  should  be 
"  The  Life  and  Writings  of  John  Filson  "• 
the  man  after  whom  the  Club  was  named. 

The  second  publication  was  "  The  Wilder- 
ness Road,"  by  Capt.  Thomas  Speed.  Besides 
the  manuscripts  that  Captain  Speed  gave  to 
the  Filson  Club,  he  collected  history  of  the 
Speed  family  in  America.  But  his  most  im- 
portant work  is  "  The  Union  Cause  in  Ken- 
tucky," which  the  Putnams  brought  out  this 
spring. 


The  Filson  Club  117 

The  third  publication  was  "  The  Pioneer 
Press  of  Kentucky,"  by  W.  II.  Pen-in.  This 
book  covered  the  history  of  the  press  in  Ken- 
tucky from  the  establishment  of  John  Brad- 
ford'* (jazcttc — the  second  newspaper,  and  not 
the  first,  as  many  believe,  published  west  of 
the  Alleghanies,  August  18,  1787 — to  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Ddili/  /Vr.s-.s-  in  1830.  It  was 
illustrated  with  facsimile  pages  from  the  Kcn- 
inek)/  (iazcttc  and  Fanner's  JJhrarj/,  a  view  of 
the  iirst  printing-house  in  Kentucky,  and  pic- 
tures of  John  Bradford,  Shadrack  Penn,  and 
George  1).  Prentice. 

The  next  publication  was  the  "  Life  and 
Times  of  Judge  Caleb  AVallace,"  the  first  As- 
sociate Justice  of  the  Kentucky  Court  of 
Appeals.  It  was  written  by  l\ev.  William  II . 
Whitsitt,  D.  D.,  and  published  in  1888.  Dr. 
\Aliitsitt  is  a  Baptist  theologian  of  great 
ability.  His  works  on  the  Baptist  form  of 
Christianity  are  admirable.  Dr.  Whitsitt  was 
the  associate  editor  of  "Johnston's  Universal 
Cyclopedia,"  and  now  lives  in  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia. 

The  fifth  publication  was  written  by  Colonel 
Durrett,  and  was  "  An  Historical  Sketch  of  St. 
Paul's  Church."  This  sketch  was  prepared 
for  the  semi-centennial  celebration,  which 
was  held  on  October  6,  1889.  It  was  illus- 
trated with  pictures  of  the  leading  pastors  of 


118     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

this  historic  church  and  with  cuts  of  the 
church. 

The  same  year  the  most,  profound  of  any  of 
the  publications  was  issued,  entitled  "  The  Po- 
litical Beginnings  of  Kentucky,''  by  Col.  John 
Mason  Brown.  Colonel  Brown  was  a  learned 
historian,  and  his  book  is  of  great  value  in  the 
study  of  early  political  conditions  in  our 
State.  The  work  treated  the  political  history 
from  the  beginning  up  to  the  admission  of  Ken- 
tucky as  an  American  State.  Kentucky  was 
admitted  into  the  Union  June  1,  1792 — one 
year  after  the  admission  of  Vermont,  and  the 
second  State  admitted  after  the  Revolution. 

On  October  6,  1891,  the  Filson  nub  was 
incorporated  for  the  purpose,  as  explained  in 
its  charter,  of  collecting  and  publishing  the 
history  of  Kentucky  and  for  cultivating  a 
taste  for  the  history  of  our  State. 

The  Kentucky  centennial,  which  occurred  in 
1892,  was  celebrated  by  the  Filson  Club  with 
a  banquet  which  was  held  at  the  Gait  House 
on  June  1.  At  this  banquet  Colonel  Dur- 
rett  presided,  and  Major  Henry  T.  Stanton, 
the  Kentucky  poet,  the  author  of  "  The  Money- 
less Man,"'  read  a  poem  entitled  "  Kentucky." 
Later  in  the  same  year  Colonel  Durrett  com- 
piled the  banquet  speeches  and  Stanton's  poem 
and  published  a  volume  entitled  "  The  Cente- 
nary of  Kentucky." 


The  F'Hson  Club  119 

The  predecessor  of  the  Filson  Club  was  the 
Southern  Historical  Association,  which  was 
disbanded  when  the  Filsou  Club  was  organ- 
ized. For  the  eighth  publication  Colonel  Dur- 
rett  published  a  paper  that  he  had  read  before 
the  Southern  Association  on  May  1,  1880, 
commemorative  of  the  one  hundredth  anni- 
versary of  the  founding  of  Louisville  by  George 
Rogers  Clark.  It  contained  portraits  of  Dur- 
rett,  (lark,  and  La  Salle,  and  was  called  "  The 
Centenary  of  Louisville." 

In  1894  Captain  Speed  contributed  a  paper 
on  "The  Political  Club  of  Danville,  Ken- 
tucky/' which  was  founded  in  178(>  and  dis- 
banded in  1790.  The  original  papers  were 
found  by  Speed  after  a  search  of  many  years. 

The  tenth  publication  was  Dr.  Call's  "  Rafin- 
esque.''  Rafinesque  was  a  professor  of  natu- 
ral science  at  old  Transylvania  University  for 
some  years,  and  Call's  book  is  illustrated 
with  likenesses  of  the  fishes  of  the  Ohio  and 
the  botany  of  Louisville. 

Dr.  Robert  Peter,  of  Lexington,  Kentucky, 
prepared  an  able  paper  on  the  rise,  decline, 
and  fall  of  Transylvania  University.  For 
many  years  Dr.  Peter  was  professor  of  chem- 
istry at  Transylvania  University,  and  he  was 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  its  history.  He 
was  probably  the  ablest  chemist  that  Ken- 
tucky has  produced.  It  was  not  published 


120     Kentuckians  m  History  and  Literature 

until  after  the  Doctor's  death,  and  was  pre- 
pared for  publication  by  his  daughter,  Miss 
Johanna  Peter,  who  now  lives  in  Fayette 
County. 

The  twelfth  publication  was  made  up  of  the 
memorial  proceedings  held  at  Bryan's  Station 
in  1896  under  the  auspices  of  the  Lexington 
Chapter,  D.  A.  R.,  and  was  prepared  by  Col- 
onel Durrett  for  publication.  It  contained 
portraits  of  many  Lexingtonians,  and  is  the 
most  distinctly  Lexington  book  which  the 
Club  has  issued. 

Col.  J.  Stoddard  Johnston  edited  for  publi- 
cation, in  1898,  the  journals  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Walker  and  Col.  Christopher  Gist,  under  the 
title  of  "  The  First  Explorations  of  Kentucky." 
Besides  this  book,  Colonel  Johnston  has  writ- 
ten a  history  of  Louisville,  in  two  volumes,  and 
the  "  Confederate  History  of  Kentucky.''  Re- 
cently, the  papers  of  Gen.  John  C.  Breckin- 
ridge,  his  old  chief,  have  been  turned  over  to 
him  to  prepare  a  biography  of  the  youngest 
of  the  American  Vice-Presidents. 

In  1899  the  Club  issued  two  books  in  one. 
The  first  paper  was  written  by  Z.  F.  Smith, 
the  Kentucky  historian,  which  was  a  sketch 
of  Henry  Clay's  mother,  and  the  second  part 
was  written  by  Mary  Rogers  Clay  on  the  gene- 
alogy of  the  Clays.  The  book  was  illustrated 
with  Clay  pictures  and  pictures  of  the  authors. 


The  Filson  Club  121 

At  the  meeting  in  October,  1905,  Alfred  Pir- 
tle  was  elected  to  succeed  Captain  Speed  as 
secretary  of  the  Filsou  Club.  As  the  fifteenth 
publication,  Captain  Pirtle's  "The  Battle  of 
Tippecaiioe  v  was  published  as  the  lirst  of  an 
historical  trilogy.  It  was  illustrated  with  pic- 
tures of  William  II.  Harrison,  Col.  Joseph 
II.  Daveiss,  and  the  famous  Indian,  "The 
Prophet."  The  historian  of  Lexington,  George 
W.  Kanck,  contributed  the  history  of  Boones- 
borough,  with  pictures  of  Boone  and  of  many 
Boone  relics  as  the  sixteenth  publication. 

The  most  artistic  of  the  Filson  Club  publica- 
tions was  printed  in  1902,  written  by  Gen. 
Samuel  W.  Price,  the  artist,  entitled  "Old 
.Masters  of  the  Blue  Grass."  Jt  contained  bio- 
graphical sketches  of  the  famous  Kentucky 
artists,  Jouett,  Bush,  Fra/er,  Grimes,  and 
Hart,  and  many  reproductions  of  their  work. 

The  next  year  Col.  Bennett  II.  Young's  his- 
tory of  the  "Battle  of  the  Thames,"  with  a 
list  of  the  Kentucky  soldiers  that  were  in  the 
battle,  was  published.  Colonel  Young's  book 
formed  the  second  of  the  historical  trilogy,  and 
is  regarded  by  many  persons  as  the  best  of  the 
Filson  Club  publications.  Colonel  Young  pre- 
pared the  book  with  great  care,  and  it  tells  in 
detail  of  the  gallant  Kentuckians  who  fell 
in  that  memorable  battle.  Among  Colonel 
Young's  other  books  are  histories  of  the  Ken- 


Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

tucky  Constitution,  and  of  evangelistic  work 
in  Kentucky,  history  of  the  Battle  of  Blue 
Licks,  and  of  his  native  county,  Jessamine. 

Young's  "  Battle  of  the  Thames  "  was  fol- 
lowed bv  a  history  of  the  u  Battle  of  New 
Orleans,"  by  Z.  F.  Smith,  and  contains  por- 
traits of  Governors  Shelby  and  Slaughter. 
Mr.  Smith's  work  closed  the  trilogy  of  battles 
in  which  Kentuckians  took  such  prominent 
parts.  Mr.  Smith  is,  after  Collins,  the  ablest 
historian  that  our  Commonwealth  has  had. 

In  1905  Miss  Peter  prepared  her  father's 
history  of  the  medical  department  of  Transyl- 
vania University  for  publication.  It  was  il- 
lustrated with  pictures  of  the  Transylvania 
professors  and  sketches  of  them. 

The  twenty-first  publication  was  issued  by 
John  P.  Morton  &  Co.,  the  house  that  has  pre- 
pared all  of  the  Club's  publications,  and  was 
written  by  a  former  Kentucky  newspaper  man, 
Anderson  Q.  Quisenberry,  now  living  in 
Washington  City.  It  is  entitled  "  Lopez's 
Expeditions  to  Cuba,  1850-1851.'-  The  two 
Kentuckians  who  made  this  expedition  fa- 
mous were  Col.  Theodore  OTIara,  the  author  of 
an  immortal  martial  poem,  and  Col.  William 
L.  Crittenden,  whose  last  words  proclaimed 
another  American  hero  and  martyr. 

Mr.  Quisenberry  originally  intended  to 
write  a  novel  founded  on  these  expeditions,  to 


The  Filson  Club  123 

be  called  "  The  Strong  in  Heart,"  but  finally 
decided  to  write  the  history  of  the  expedi- 
tions, thus  giving  James  Lane  Allen  or  John 
Fox,  Jr.,  a  background  for  a.  Kentucky  novel, 
which  he  hopes,  as  he  says  in  his  preface,  one 
or  the  other  of  them  will  write.  Mr.  Quisen- 
berry  is  the  author  of  a  biography  of  Hum- 
phrey Marshall  the  elder,  and  several  other 
valuable  books.  II  is  account  of  Lopez's  Ex- 
peditions is,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  the  most 
readable  of  any  of  the  Filson  Club  books. 

The  latest  publication  of  the  (1lub  is  enti- 
tled "  The  Quest  for  a  Lost  IJac-e,"  by  Dr. 
Thomas  E.  Pickett,  of  Maysville,  Kentucky. 
The  book  presents  Paul  Du  Chaillu's  theory  of 
the  origin  of  the  English-speaking  race.  Du 
Chaillu  contended  that  the  English  were  de- 
scended from  the  Scandinavians  rather  than 
the  Teutons — from  the  Normans  rather  than 
the  Germans.  Dr.  Pickett  presents  the  theory 
of  Du  Chaillu  ably  and  fairly.  The  book 
is  illustrated  with  half-tone  likenesses  of 
the  author,  of  King  William  the  Conqueror,  of 
Du  Chaillu,  of  several  maps  of  Scandinavia 
and  England,  and  of  quite  a  number  of  dis- 
tinguished Kentuckians  who  are  supposed  to 
be  of  Scandinavian  or  Norman-French  origin. 
Altogether,  the  book  is  one  of  unusual  beauty. 
The  Filson  Club  publications  are  the  delight 
of  all  students  of  our  State's  history. 


THE    KENTUCKY    HISTORICAL 
SOCIETY 


THE     KENTUCKY    HISTORICAL 
SOCIETY 

Ix  examining  the  files  of  the  old  Frankfort 
Commonwealth,  one  of  the  best  of  the  early 
Kentucky  newspapers,  in  search  of  data  for  an 
historical  work  that  I  had  in  preparation,  I 
discovered  the  announcement  founding  the 
Kentucky  State  Historical  Society.  As  I  had 
thought  that  the  Society  was  of  recent  estab- 
lishment, T  was  surprised  to  ascertain  that  it 
was  founded  over  half  a  century  ago.  Shortly 
after  finding  out  the  date  of  the  Kentucky 
Society  organization,  I  also  became  interested 
in  the  origin  of  historical  societies  in  this 
country,  and  what  is  found  in  this  essay  is  the 
result  of  that  interest. 

The  originator  of  the  historical  society  idea 
in  the  United  States  was  John  Pintard,  a 
graduate  of  Princeton  University,  and  a  native 
of  New  York.  His  visit  to  P»oston,  Massa- 
chusetts, resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  first 
historical  society  that  was  organized  in  Amer- 
ica— the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society, 
founded  in  17S1.  Thirteen  years  later  it  was 
incorporated,  and  for  over  a  century  has  been 
enriching  American  history  by  its  publica- 

127 


128     KentucJcians  in  History  and  Literature 

tions,  known  as  "  Collections  "  and  "  Proceed- 
ings." 

The  second  historical  society  to  be  founded 
in  the  United  States  was  the  New  York  His- 
torical Society,  also  organized  through  Pin- 
tard's  efforts,  in  1804.  Eighteen  years  later 
historical  societies  for  the  States  of  Maine  and 
Rhode  Island  were  established.  In  1824  the 
Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania  was 
founded  at  Philadelphia.  The  following  year 
the  Connecticut  Historical  Society  was  or- 
ganized at  Hartford.  The  first  historical  so- 
ciety in  the  West  was  the  Indiana  Society, 
which  was  established  at  Indianapolis  in  1830. 
The  first  society  to  be  organized  in  the  South 
was  founded  the  following  year — the  Virginia 
Historical  Society,  which  has  done  such  good 
work  for  Virginia  history.  Its  quarterly  pub- 
lication, The  Virf/hiia  Maf/aztue  of  History 
and  Eiofjrapliy,  is  edited  by  the  Society's  sec- 
retary, William  G.  Stanard.  Two  years  later 
the  Historical  Society  of  North  Carolina  was 
founded.  The  headquarters  of  the  Society  are 
now  at  Chapel  Hill,  the  seat  of  the  University 
of  North  Carolina.  The  present  secretary  is 
Dr.  K.  P.  Battle,  professor  of  history  at  the 
University.  On  January  15,  1830,  about  three 
months  before  the  Kentucky  Historical  So- 
ciety was  organized,  the  Louisiana  Historical 
Society  was  established  at  Baton  Rouge,  but 


The  Kentucky  Historial  Society         129 

has  head quarters  at  New  Orleans  at  the  pres- 
ent time. 

The  eleventh  historical  society  to  he  organ- 
ized on  American  soil  was  the  Kentucky  State 
Historical  Society,  which  was  established  at 
Frankfort,  the  capital  of  the  State,  on  April 
22,  1$3(>.  The  meeting  of  organization  was 
held  in  the  Secretary  of  State's  office,  which 
was  situated  in  the  public  square  in  Frankfort. 
A  number  of  gentlemen  interested  in  Ken- 
tucky history  were  present,  and  John  Brown, 
Esq.,  was  appointed  president  of  the  meeting. 
C.  S.  Todd  was  appointed  vice-president,  and 
Oervas  E.  TJussell,  secretary. 

The  following  resolutions  in  regard  to  the 
formation  of  the  Society  were  adopted  : 

"ffcsolrccf.  That  measures  be  taken  to  or- 
ganize a  historical  society  for  the  State  of 
Kentucky,  the  object  of  which  shall  be  to  col- 
lect and  preserve  authentic  information  and 
facts  connected  with  the  early  history  of  the 
State ; 

"  That  the  society  shall  be  composed  of  a 
president,  vice-president,  and  such  other 
officers  as  may  be  deemed  necessary  to  make  it 
efficient  and  useful ; 

"  One  of  the  main  objects  of  the  Association 
shall  be  to  celebrate,  in  such  a  mariner  as 
shall  be  deemed  most  expedient,  the  anniver- 


130     Kentuckians  m  History  and  Literature 

sary  of  the  first  settlement  of  Kentucky  on  the 
spot  where  that  settlement  was  made; 

"  The  more  effectually  to  accomplish  this 
object,  it  will  be  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  to 
select  some  person  or  persons  to  deliver  an 
address  suitable  to  the  occasion,  on  the  day 
set  apart  for  the  annual  celebration; 

"  The  Society  shall  be  composed  of  native 
citizens  of  Kentucky,  or  such  as  may  have  in- 
termarried with  families  born  in  the  State,  and 
of  those  citizens  who  may  have  emigrated  to  it 
prior  to  June  1,  1792,  when  the  Constitution 
went  into  operation ; 

"  Auxiliary  societies  may  be  formed  in 
every  town  and  neighborhood,  where  sufficient 
interest  may  be  felt  to  unite  in  the  promotion 
of  an  object  so  important  to  the  preservation  of 
the  facts  and  events  connected  with  the  first 
settlement  of  the  State; 

"  It  is  expected  that  as  many  members  as 
practicable,  who  may  have  been  born  anterior 
to  the  organisation  of  the  State,  will  attend 
each  anniversary  for  the  pur-pose  of  communi- 
cating the  incidents  connected  with  the  early 
history  of  Kentucky.  It  is  distinctly  under- 
stood that  a  genera]  participation  is  recom- 
mended— the  character  of  membership  will 
be  confined  to  no  political  or  religious  party; 

"  A  constitution  for  the  society,  more  in  de- 
tail, shall  be  adopted,  defining  its  objects  and 


Tlie  Kentucky  Historial  Society         131 

the    principles    011    which    it    shall    be    con- 
ducted." 

After  adoption  of  these  ten  resolutions,  Or- 
lando Brown  was  appointed  as  first  corre- 
sponding secretary  of  the  Society.  Hon.  John 
Rowan  was  elected  as  the  first  president. 
Rowan  was  a  distinguished  Kentucky  lawyer, 
and  a  bitter  opponent  of  Henry  Clay.  He  was 
probably  the  best  Latin  scholar  of  his  day  in 
Kentucky,  and  prepared  a  manuscript  Latin 
grammar  for  his  own  diversion.  Rowan  Jived 
near  Bardstown,  Kentucky,  in  Nelson  County, 
at  his  famous  country  home,  "  Federal  Hill." 
He  was  the  uncle  of  Stephen  Collins  Foster, 
and  it  was  while  on  a  visit  to  llowan  that  Fos- 
ter wrote  "  My  Old  Kentucky  Home."  To-day 
at  "Federal  Hill"  the  oil  painting  of  John 
llowan,  first  president  of  the  Kentucky  His- 
torical Society,  looks  down  at  the  table  upon 
which  Foster  wrote  his  immortal  melody. 

On  January  21,  1841,  probably  through  Ro- 
wan's efforts,  the  Kentucky  legislature  di- 
rected one  copy  each  of  its  journals,  and  all 
books  published  by  the  State,  to  be  deposited 
with  the  Society,  "  to  be  accessible  to  the  ex- 
amination of  any  citizen."  This  law  has  been 
carried  out,  and  many  State  books  have  been 
thus  preserved. 

Judge  Rowan  died  in  Louisville,  Kentucky, 


Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

July  13,  1843,  in  his  seventieth  year,  and 
the  Kentucky  Historical  Society  rapidly  de- 
clined. For  several  years  after  Rowan's  death 
it  struggled  along,  but  when  the  clouds  of  civil 
strife  began  to  gather  it  was  thought  best,  by 
those  in  charge,  to  discontinue  the  Society. 
This  was  done,  and  for  over  a  decade  Kentucky 
had  no  historical  society. 

Ten  years  after  the  civil  war,  or  in  1875,  the 
Frankfort  "  Lyceum  "  was  organized,  and  out 
of  this  organization  was  formed  a  society  or 
club  for  the  reorganization  of  the  suspended 
Historical  Society.  This  club  took  steps  for 
a  more  permanent  formation  of  an  histor- 
ical society,  and  in  1878  it  was  regularly 
organized  as  the  Kentucky  Historical  Society. 
In  1879-1880  the  Society  presented  a  peti- 
tion to  the  legislature  asking  for  an  appropri- 
ation and  rooms  in  the  new  wing  of  the  Cap- 
itol then  being  erected.  The  request  was 
granted.  They  secured  a  charter  and  used  the 
money  appropriated  for  the  equipment  of  the 
rooms.  Preston  H.  Leslie,  afterwards  Gov- 
ernor of  Montana,  was  then  Governor  of  Ken- 
tucky, and  was  elected  as  the  first  president 
of  the  reorganized  Kentucky  State  Historical 
Society.  During  Governor  James  B.  Mc- 
Creary's  administration  a  little  pamphlet  was 
issued,  out  of  which  the  Society's  magazine  of 
to-day,  Tlie  Register.,  grew.  Since  its  reorgan- 


The  Kentucky  Historial  Society         133 

ization  the  Governors  of  Kentucky  have  been 
chosen  as  presidents  of  the  Society. 

During  Governor  Simon  B.  Buckner's  ad- 
ministration regular  meetings  were  suspended, 
and  when  Governor  John  Young  Brown  came 
into  oflice  he  closed  the  Society's  rooms  and 
kept  the  keys.  Governor  William  O.  Bradley 
gave  the  rooms  up  as  an  oflice  for  a  State 
department.  In  1S9G  the  rooms  were  again 
given  to  the  Society,  when  it  was  re-established 
by  Mrs.  Jennie  C.  Morton,  the  Kentucky 
poetess.  It  was  regularly  reorganized  by  the 
union  of  the  Frankfort  Society  of  Colonial 
Daughters  and  resident  members  of  the  His- 
torical Society,  as  it  existed  until  discontin- 
ued during  Governor  Buckner's  administra- 
tion. 

Governor  Bradley  became  president  c,i-- 
officio  of  the  Kentucky  Historical  Society,  and 
held  the  office  until  1900,  when  Governor  J.  C. 
W.  Beckham  succeeded  him.  Governor  Beck- 
ham  has  been  the  best  president  the  Society 
has  ever  had.  In  his  message  to  the  legislature 
last  winter  he  recommended  that  an  annual 
appropriation  of  s.~>,000  be  given  to  the  Society, 
and  it  was  done.  Also,  through  his  influence, 
suitable  rooms  have  been  allotted  to  the  So- 
ciety in  the  new  State  Capitol  that  is  now 
being  erected. 

The  first  number  of  The  Register,  the  official 


134     Keniucklans  m  History  and  Literature 

publication  of  the  Society,  edited  by  Mrs.  Jen- 
nie C.  Morton,  was  issued  in  January,  1903. 
It  is  published  quarterly  and  the  subscription 
is  $1.00  per  year.  The  membership  fee  is  the 
same  amount.  Every  Kentuckian  is  entitled 
to  membership  in  the  Kentucky  State  Histori- 
cal Society,  and  every  son  or  daughter  of 
Kentucky  who  loves  the  State  should  be  a  sub- 
scriber to  the  magazine  and  a  member  of  the 
Society.  Two  meetings  are  held  during  the 
year:  the  annual  meeting  on  June  7,  and  the 
business  meeting  on  October  3.  Under  the 
care  of  its  distinguished  president,  Governor 
Beckham,  who  hails  from  the  same  town  that 
the  Society's  first  president  came  from,  and 
its  secretary  and  treasurer,  Mrs.  Morton,  the 
Society  is  doing  a  good  work  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  Kentucky  history,  and  it  deserves  the 
support  of  all  loyal  Kentuckians. 


HAS  KENTUCKY  PRODUCED  A  POET? 


HAS  KENTUCKY  PEODUCED  A  POET? 

EDMUND  GOSSE,  the  English  critic,  in  his  book 
called  "  Questions  at  Issue,"  has  a  chapter  en- 
titled "  lias  America  Produced  a  Poet? " 
Gosse  answered  this  question  affirmatively, 
saying  that  America  has  produced  only  one 
really  great  poet — Edgar  Allan  Poe. 

Now,  without  entering  into  a  discussion 
whether  or  no  Poe  is  the  greatest  American 
poet,  or  whether  or  no  Lowell  is  the  greatest 
American  poet,  by  changing  the  subject  of  the 
chapter's  title  from  America  to  Kentucky,  and 
saying,  "  Has  Kentucky  produced  a  poet?  "  1 
have  found  the  title  for  this  paper.  I,  too, 
wish  to  answer  the  question,  as  I  have  changed 
it,  affirmatively,  and  say  that  Kentucky  has 
produced  not  one,  but  two  really  great  poets 
-Theodore  O'llara  and  Madison  Cawein — my 
definition  of  greatness  being  more  modest  than 
the  one  of  Mr.  Gosse. 

It  means  a  great  deal  to  say  that  from  the 
time  Thomas  Johnson  published,  in  1T9G, 
"  The  Kentucky  Miscellany  "  until  1847,  when 
O'llara  published  "  The  Bivouac  of  the  Dead," 
Kentucky  produced  only  one  genuine  poet, 

137 


138     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

and  from  184T  to  1902,  when  Cawein  published 
"  Kentucky  Poems,"  she  produced  another 
poet  that  can  fairly  take  his  place  beside 
O'Hara.  The  student  of  Kentucky  history 
who  has  paid  but  passing  notice  to  the  litera- 
ture of  the  State — and  we  have,  as  Mr.  Allen 
has  pointed  out,  "  produced  little  or  no  litera- 
ture " — will  at  once  say,  "  Why,  there  is  Pren- 
tice, Stanton,  Cutter,  Harney,  Cosby,  Shaler, 
and  Butler.  Surely  there  is  one,  at  least, 
among  the  many  verses  that  these  persons 
wrote,  one  really  good  poem.''  But  if  a  con- 
gress of  American  poets  were  held  it  is  safe 
to  say  that  the  people  of  Kentucky  would 
choose  Theodore  O'Hara  and  Madison  Cawein 
as  their  representatives. 

The  author  of  our  State  song, — Stephen  Col- 
lins Foster, — while  the  foremost  of  American 
song  writers,  was  a  Pennsylvanian,  and  spent 
only  a  short  time  in  Kentucky,  the  time  in 
which  he  wrote  "  My  Old  Kentucky  Home." 

"  Father "  Abram  Joseph  Ryan,  the  poet- 
priest  of  the  Confederacy,  and  one  of  the  five 
greater  Southern  poets,  died  in  Louisville, 
where  he  was  engaged  on  his  "  Life  of  Christ." 
But  a  few  months  of  residence  is  a  very  slender 
claim  that  any  State  can  hold  upon  a  man.  If 
Kentucky  had  stronger  claims  on  Foster  and 
Ryan  she  would  have  four  distinguished  poets 
instead  of  two. 


Has  Kentucky  Produced  a   Poet?         139 

Of  the  great  O'Hara  little  need  be  said  in 
this  paper,  as  lie  has  found  a  biographer.  It 
is  enough  to  say  liere  that  his  immortal  master- 
piece, "  The  Bivouac  of  the  Dead,''  remains  the 
one  great  elegy  in  American  literature.  Bry- 
ant's "  Thanatopsis  ''  is  the  only  poem  in  onr 
literature  that  can  be  compared  with  the 
"  Bivouac,''  and  it  is  too  general  in  tone  to  be 
classed  strictly  as  an  elegy. 

If  a  poet  is  to  be  judged  by  a  single  pro- 
duction, O'TIara  is  the  greatest  Kentucky 
poet;  if  a  poet  is  to  be  judged  by  the  body  of 
his  work,  and  not  on  a  single  production,  Ta- 
wein  is  the  greatest  Kentucky  poet.  Much 
has  been  written  of  Oawein's  poetry,  but  very 
little  has  been  written  of  his  life. 

Madison  Julius  Cawein  was  born  in  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky,  March  23,  18(55.  Paul  Lei- 
cester Ford,  author  of  "  The  Many-sided 
Franklin"  and  "Wanted — A  Matchmaker," 
was  born  on  the  same  day,  in  Brooklyn,  New 
York.  Cawein  was  the  son  of  William  and 
Christiana  Cawein. 

After  some  preparatory  work,  Madison  Ca- 
wein  entered  the  Louisville  Male  High  School 
in  1881,  at  the  age  of  sixteen  yenrs.  Tie  began 
to  write  verses  while  attending  the  TTigh 
School,  and  recited  them  from  the  chapel  ros- 
trum. Tie  wrote  all  of  his  declamations  in 
verse,  which  he  afterwards  destroyed.  While 


140     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

at  the  High  School  he  wrote  enough  verse  to 
fill  two  large  volumes.  He  was  graduated  in 
1886,  in  a  class  of  thirteen,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years.  Unlike  a  great  many  poets, 
none  of  Cawein's  classmates  have  become  fa- 
mous. The  year  after  his  graduation,  John  P. 
Morton  &  Co.,  of  Louisville,  published  his  first 
book,  "  Blooms  of  the  Berry."  This  book  \vas 
made  up  of  the  best  of  his  school  verses.  Wil- 
liam Dean  Howells  is  the  discoverer  of  Cawein. 
It  was  in  the  May  number  of  Harper's  Maga- 
zine of  1888,  in  the  "  Editor's  Study,''  that  Mr. 
Howells  wrote  an  article  on  "  A  Xew  Young 
Poet — Madison  Cawein."  After  reviewing  the 
poetry  of  Mr.  Coates  Kenney,  the  Ohio  poet, 
and  the  author  of  the  famous  lyric,  "  Eain  on 
the  Roof,"  Howells  quoted  Cawein's  "  The 
Ideal  '*  and  "  A  Guinevere."  He  also  found 
"  Something  different  from  the  beautiful  as 
literary  England  or  literary  Xew  York  has 
conceived  it.  Here  is  a  fresh  strain;  the  effect 
of  longer  seasons  and  wider  horizons;  the  wine 
of  the  old  English  vine  planted  in  another  soil 
and  ripened  by  a  sun  of  Italian  fervor,  has  a 
sweetness  and  fire  of  its  own.  This  native 
spirit  is  enveloped  in  flavor  too  cloying  for  the 
critical  palate  at  times,  but  one  can  easily 
fancy  the  rapture  it  must  have  for  a  reader  as 
young  as  the  poet."  Here  is  the  part  of  the 
poem  "  Guinevere,"  quoted  by  Mr.  Howells : 


Has  Kentucky  Produced  a  Poet?        141 

Am  I  happy?  Ask  the  fire 

When  it  hursts  its  hounds  and  thrills 
Some  mad  hours,  as  it  wills 

If  those  hours  tire. 

See!    The  moon  has  risen,  white 

As  the  hursten   lilv  here 

Hocking  on  the  dusky  mere 
Like  a  silent   light. 

T  must  go  now.     Sec!    There  fell. 
Molten    into  purple  light. 
One  wild  star.     Kiss  me  good-night, 

And  once  more  farewell. 

Thomas  Bailey  A  Id  rich  also  reviewed 
"Blooms  of  the  Berry"  favorably  in  the  At- 
lantic Monthly.  These  kind  reviews  of  Row- 
ells  and  Aldrich  did  a  great  deal  for  Cawein's 
reputation  as  a  poet.  What  was  greater  still, 
they  encouraged  him  to  continue  to  write. 

The  next  year  Cawein  published  "  The  Tri- 
umph of  Music,"  and  since  then  he  has  pub- 
lished one,  and  sometimes  two,  volumes  a  year. 
There  are  one  or  two  years  in  which  he  has 
failed  to  publish  a  volume,  but  they  are  very 
few  indeed. 

In  1801  Putnam's  Rons  brought  out  a  volume 
of  poems  entitled  "  Days  and  Dreams."  The 
next  year,  two  books,  with  fawein's  name  on 
the  title-page,  were  published  by  the  same  firm  : 
"  Red  Leaves  and  Roses "  and  "  Poems  of 


Kentuckians  m  History  and  Literature 

Nature  and  Love."  The  latter  volume  was 
dedicated  to  "  Joaquin  Miller,  the  Poet  of  the 
Sierras."  From  the  "  Poems  of  Nature  and 
Love "  I  have  selected  the  following  little 
lyric : 

APOCALYPSE 

Before  I  found  yon  I  had  found 
Of  your  true  eyes  the  open  book 

(Where  re-created  heaven  wound 
Its  wisdom  with  it)   in  the  brook. 

Ah.  when  I  found  you.  looking  in 
Those  Scriptures  of  your  eyes,  above 

All  earth,  o'ersoarcd  earth's  vulture.  Sin, 
So  apotheosized  to  love. 

And,  searching  yet  beneath  it,  saw 

The  soul  impatient  of  the  sod — 
What  wonder  then  your  love  should  draw 
Me  to  the  nearer  love  of  God. 

In  1894  the  same  firm  issued  "  Intimations 
of  the  Beautiful."  "  Intimations  of  the  Beau- 
tiful "  is  the  title  poem,  somewhat  in  the  man- 
ner of  "  In  Memoriam."  Only  three  hundred 
and  fifty  copies  of  this  book  were  published, 
and  it  is  now  out  of  print.  He  dedicated  it  to 
Henry  M.  Alden,  editor  of  Harper  *  J/Y///rf:/;?r, 
in  tire  following  language:  "To  the  aulhov  of 
'  God  in  his  World  '  with  profound  admira- 
tion." This  book  is  the  most  philosophical 


Has  Kentucky  Produced  a  Poet?        143 

that  Cawein  lias  yet  written,  and  is  also  his 
most  sustained  effort. 

The  next  year  Cawein  tried  his  hand  at 
translation,  and  made  a  creditable  rendering 
of  some  German  poems,  which  were  published 
under  the  title  "  The  White  Snake."  This 
book  of  translations  was  issued  by  the  Morton 
Company,  as  so  many  of  Cawein's  books  have 
been. 

In  189(1  he  published  two  books,  as  he  had 
done  in  1892.  The  first  was  entitled  "  Under- 
tones ''  and  the  second  "The  Garden  of 
Dreams/'  "  Undertones v  was  inscribed  to 
the  pathetic  memory  of  the  poet  ITenry  Tim- 
rod. 

Tn  1807  Cawein  published  nothing.  He  had 
published  twelve  books  in  nine  years,  and  he 
was  certainly  entitled  to  a  rest.  This  is  a 
record  which  no  American  writer  of  standing 
can  exceed.  It  has  been  the  general  adverse 
criticism  that  he  has  written  too  much — far  too 
much.  Cawein  has  also  suffered  from  lack  of 
self-criticism.  Tie  is  not  strict  enough  with 
himself  and  allows  some  poems  to  get  into  book 
form  that  onirlit  to  go  into  the  waste  basket. 

Tn  1808  17.  Tl.  Kussell,  of  New  York, 
brought  out  "  Shapes  and  Shadows,''  contain- 
ing "  A  Southern  Girl,"  and  during  the  same 
year  the  Morton  Company  issued  "  Idyllic 
Monologues." 


Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

The  next  year  Cawein  sent  his  manuscript 
to  the  Putnams,  and  they  issued  a  volume 
which  proved  to  be  one  of  his  most  successful 
books,  "  Myth  and  Romance."  The  poem  on 
the  battleship  Kentucky  is  very  fine. 


THE    "  KENTUCKY  " 

(Battleship,  launched  March  24,  1898.) 

Here's  to  her  who  bears  the  name 

Of  our  State : 
May  the  glory  of  her  fame 

Be  as  great! 

Tn  the  battle's  dread  eclipse, 

When   she  opens  iron  lips, 

When   our   ships    confront   the   ships 

Of  the  foe, 
May  each  word  of  steel  she  utters  carry  woe ! 

Here's  to  her ! 

Here's  to  her.  who.  like  a  knight 

Mailc-1  of  old. 
From  far  sea  to  sea  the  Uiirht 

Shall    uphold. 

May  she  always  deal  defeat. — 
When  contending  navies  meet. 
And  the  battle's  screaming  sleet 

Blinds  and   stuns, — 
With  the  red.  terrific  thunder  of  her  guns. 

Here's  to  her! 


Has  Kentucky  Produced  a   Poet?        145 

Here's  to  her  who  hears  the  name 

Of  our  State  : 
Mav  t  he  glory  of  her  fame 

lie  as  great  ! 

Like  a  Itcacoii,  like  a  star, 
.Mav  she  lead  our  squadrons  far,-- 
When  t  he  hurricane  of  war 

Shakes  the  world.— 

With   her   pi-nnaiit   in   the   vanward   hroad    un- 
furled. 


Jn  1000  Cawein  published  nothing.  But  in 
1!)01  Richard  d.  Badger  &  Co.,  of  Boston,  is- 
sued a  lyrical  eclogue  entitled  "One  Day  and 
Another."  In  the  same  year  the  Morton  Com- 
pany published  "  Weeds  by  the  Wall."  This 
volume  contained  "A  Twilight  Moth,"  which 
is  Cawein's  favorite  of  his  poems. 

All  dav  the  primroses  have  thought  of  tliee. 

Their  gold"n  heads  close-harcMnod  from  the  heat; 
All  dav  the  mvstic  mooiiflowers  silkenly 

Veiled  snowv  faces — that  no  hee  might  ,2'reet 
Or  huttert'h-  tl^t.  weighed  "\vith  jiollen.  passed — 
Keeping  Sultana-charm?  f'>r  th.ee.  at  la>t. 

Their   lord.    \vho   c-oimst   to   salute   each    swoet. 

Cool-throated  {lowers,  tliiit  avoid  the  davs" 
Too-fervid    kisses:    every  hud    that   drinks 
The  tipsy  dew  and  to  the  starlight  plays 
N'octurncs   of    fragrance,   thv   wiivi'd    shadow   links 

In  honds  nf  secret   hrotherhood   and   faith: 

O   hearer  of  their  order's  shihholeth. 

Like  some  pale  symhol  fluttering  o'er  these  pinks. 


146     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

What  dost  thou  whisper  in  the  balsam's  ear 
That  sets  it  blushing,  or  the  hollyhocks— 

A  syllable  silence  that  no  man  may  hear — 

As  dreamily  upon  its  stem  it  rocks? 
What  spell  dost  bear  from  listening  plant  to  plant, 
Like  some  white  witch,  some  ghostly  ministrant, 

Some  spectre  of  some  perished  flower  of  phlox? 

0  voyager  of  that  universe  which  lies 

Between  the  four  walls  of  this  garden  fair — 

Whose  constellations  are  the  fireflies 

That  wheel  their  instant  courses  everywhere — 

'Mid  fairy  firmaments  wherein  one  sees 

Mimic  Bootes  and  the  Pleiades. 

Thou  steerest  like  some  fairy  ship-of-air. 

GnoTne-wrought  of  moonbeam  fluff  and  gossamer, 
Silent  as  scent,  perhaps  thou   chariotest 

Mab  or  King  Oberon;    or,  baplv.  her 

His  queen,  Titania,  on   some  midnight  quest. 

0  for  the  herb,  the  magic  euphrasy, 

That  should  unmask  thee  to  mine  eyes,  ah  me! 
And  all  that  world  at  which  my  soul  hath  guessed ! 

In  the  following  year  the  same  company 
brought  out  "A  Voice  on  the  Wind.'' 

In  1902  Grant  Richards,  of  London,  Eng- 
land, published  a  book  entitled  "Kentucky 
Poems,"  with  a  sympathetic  introduction  by 
Edmund  Gosse.  This  book  was  made  up  of 
the  best  poems  from  all  the  books  that  Tawein 
had  published.  In  other  words,  it  contained 
the  cream  of  Cawein.  In  his  introduction 
Gosse  says  that  "The  solemn  books  of  history 


Has  Kentucky  Produced  a  Poet?        147 

It'll  us  that  Kentucky  was  discovered  in  17(59 
by  Daniel  Boone,  a  hunter.  But  he  tirst  dis- 
covers a  country  who  sees  it  first,  and  teaches 
the  world  to  see  it;  no  doubt,  some  day,  the 
city  of  Louisville  will  erect,  in  one  of  its  prin- 
cipal squares,  a  statue  to  Madison  Cawein, 
who  discovered  the  beauty  of  Kentucky."  Mr. 
Gosse  also  says  that,  after  the  group  of  Mas- 
sachusetts writers,  American  poetry  was 
"  smart  v  and  "  humorous,"  and  that  Cawein  is 
now  the  only  true  living  poet  in  this  country. 
"  History  may  perceive  in  Mr.  Cawein  the 
golden  link  that  bound  the  music  of  the  past 
to  the  music  of  the  future  through  an  interval 
of  comparative  tunelessness." 

During  the  year  1904  Cawein  contributed 
a  great  many  poems  to  the  Atlantic  Monthly, 
The  Century,  The  Reader,  The  Kmart  Set,  The 
Metropolitan,  and  Harpers  Mayazinc.  ITe  did 
not  issue  a  book  during  this  year,  but  in  1905 
E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co.  published  "The  Vale  of 
Tempo,"  which  is  made  up  of  these  magazine 
poems.  One  of  the  best  short  poems  in  the 
book  is  "  Autumn  Storm." 

The  wind  is  rising,  and   the  loaves  are  swept 
Wildly  before  it.  hundreds  on  hundreds  fall 
Huddling   beneath   the  trees.    With   brair  and  brawl 
Of  storm  the  day  is  <rrown  a  tavern,  kept 
Of  madness,   where,   with   mantles   torn   and   ripped 
Of  flying  leaves  that  beat  above  it  all, 


148     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

The  wild  winds  fight;   and,  like  some  half-spent  ball, 
The  acorn  stings  the  rout;    and,  silver-stripped, 
The  milkweed-pod  winks  an  exhausted  lamp; 
Now,  in  his  coat  of  tatters  dark  that  streams, 
The  ragged  Kain  sweeps  stormily  this  way, 
With  all  his  clamorous  followers — clouds  that  camp 
Around  the  hearthstone   of  the  west  where   gleams 
The  last  chill  flame  of  the  expiring  day. 

Last  fall  Cawein  published  "  Nature  Notes 
and  Impressions."  This  is  his  first  prose  pub- 
lication. A  complete,  uniform  edition  of  Ca- 
wein's  works,  in  five  volumes,  illustrated  by 
Eric  Pape,  has  just  been  issued.  From  the 
mechanical  aspect  the  set  is  one  of  great  beauty. 
Edmund  (jfosse,  31.  A.,  LL.  D.,  who  contributes 
the  general  introduction,  says:  "The  only 
hermit-thrush  now  audible  seems  to  sing  from 
Louisville,  Kentucky." 

A  hand-book  of  the  flora  of  Kentucky  could 
easily  be  compiled  from  Cawein's  poems.  If 
the  books  of  Sadie  F.  Trice  were  destroyed,  the 
flavor  of  Kentucky  flora  would  remain  in  Ca- 
wein's poetry.  lie  has  received  more  inspira- 
tion in  the  field  than  in  the  library.  The  fauna 
and  climate  of  Kentucky  lie  has  also  treated. 
In  the  words  of  an  English  reviewer:  "The 
sights  and  sounds  of  Nature  in  Kentucky,  pic- 
tured with  ardent  enthusiasm  and  with  a  real 
talent  for  felicitous  expression,  have  a  fresh- 
ness to  our  ear  which  will  commend  Mr.  Ca- 


Has  Kentucky  Produced  a  Poet?        149 

woiifs  poetry  to  English  readers.  .  .  .  Many 
of  his  poems  show  an  exquisite,  sense  of  the 
beauties  of  Nature  and  a  graceful  command  of 
musical  language/' 

A  little  lyric  that  Dr.  Van  Dyke  called  at- 
tention to  some  years  ago  is  one  of  Cawein's 
best  poems.  It  is  entitled  "Adventurers." 

Seemingl  v  over  ilir  hill-tops, 

I'ossihly   under   the   hills. 
A    tireless  \\\\\g  that    never  drops, 

And  a  son;:'  that  never  stills. 

Kpies  heard    on  the  stars'  lips? 

Lvries    read    in    the   dew? 
To  sinu'  the  SOUL;-  at  our  linker-tips, 

And  live  the  world  anew  ! 

Cavaliers    of   the    Cortex    kind. 

Hold    and    stern   and    strong. — • 
And.  oh.  for  a  line  and  muscular  mind 

To  sinti'  a  new-world's  son  14! 


seas  of  the  silvei 


lalrn   and  spice. 


To  pur  the  Ohl-Worltl  art  to  scorn 


At  the  price  ol   any  price . 


Danger,    death,    hut    the   hope    high ! 


God's,    i  f   the   purpose    fail  ! 


is   of  a   vaste 


Sailin£r  a   dauntless  sail. 


If  Sidney  Lanier  has  a  successor  in  South- 
ern poetry,  Cawein  is  surely  his  successor.    lie 


150     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

is  supreme  among  living  Southern  poets. 
Father  John  B.  Tabb  and  Samuel  M.  Peck  are 
his  only  rivals  for  this  honor.  Among  living 
American  poets,  Cawein  ranks  with  E.  C.  Sted- 
man,  William  V.  Moody,  James  W.  Riley, 
Edwin  Markham,  Henry  van  Dyke,  and 
George  E.  Woodberry.  His  poetry  is  distin- 
guished from  the  poetry  of  these  men  by  its 
Kentucky  flavor.  What  his  ultimate  place  in 
American  letters  will  be,  no  one,  of  course,  can 
tell. 

Cawein's  poetry  has  been  admired  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic.  Some  American  tour- 
ists, lately  returned  from  England,  say  that 
constantly  in  their  travels  they  were  asked  if 
they  knew  the  Kentucky  poet.  In  England,  as 
has  already  been  suggested,  Mr.  Gosse,  Wil- 
liam Archer,  and  Arthur  Symons  have  ex- 
pressed their  admiration  for  him  in  book  form ; 
in  America,  llowells,  Aldrich,  John  Bur- 
roughs, and  Hamilton  W.  Mabie  have  ex- 
pressed their  admiration  for  Oawein's  poetry 
in  magazine  articles.  The  most  appreciative 
recent  critic  of  the  Kentucky  poet  is  Miss 
Jessie  B.  Rittenhouse.  In  her  book,  "  The 
Younger  American  Poets/'  and  in  the  literary 
magazines,  she  has  given  him  high  rank  among 
the  latter-day  poets  of  America.  James  Lane 
Allen,  the  foremost  name  in  Kentucky  prose, 
has  said  that  Cawein  is  the  greatest  Kentucky 
poet,  living  or  dead.  Edwin  Carlile  Litsey,  the 


author  of  "  The  Love  Story  of  Aimer  Stone," 
and  the  leader  of  the  younger  Kentucky  writ- 
ers in  both  prose  and  verse,  calls  Cawein  "  The 
Kentucky  Woodland  Thrush.''  In  an  article 
in  The  Outlook  on  Edward  A.  liobiuson's  "  The 
Children  of  the  Night,"  Theodore  Ixoosevelt, 
the  most  literary  of  the  American  Presidents, 
has  classed  Cawein  with  Kobinson,  Clinton 
Scollard,  Dr.  Maurice  Egan,  and  Bliss  Car- 
man as  the  leading  living  American  poets. 
These,  then,  are  the  Theodorau  poets.  "To 
acknowledge  unfamiliarity  with  the  poetry  of 
.Madison  Cawein  is  to  acknowledge  a  woeful 
ignorance  of  contemporary  American  litera- 
ture,'7 says  our  President,  and  "  Indian  Sum- 
mer "  is  his  favorite  of  Cawein's  poems. 

Mr.  Cawein  has  defined  poetry,  in  a  personal 
letter  to  me,  as  follows:  "  Poetry,  I  define,  as 
the  metrical  or  rhythmical  expression  of  the 
emotions  occasioned  by  the  light  or  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  beautiful  and  the  noble  in  our- 
selves.'' A  definition  of  poetiy  is  to  square 
the  circle,  and  is  interesting  only  as  it  shows 
the  poet's  attitude  toward  his  work.  Cawein 
was  christened  in  the  German  Lutheran 
Church,  but  he  has  never  renewed  his  vows. 
There  are  many  sacred  lyrics  scattered 
throughout  his  volumes,  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful being  "  Epilogue,''  the  second  stanza  of 
which  proves  him  to  be  not  only  a  poet  of  Na- 
ture, but  of  Nature's  God. 


Kentuckians  In  History  and  Literature 

0  God.  our  Father  God!— 

Who  gav'st  us  fire, 

To   soar   beyond  the   sod, 

To  rise,  aspire — 

What  though  AVG  strive  and  strive, 

And  all  our  soul  says  "  \\\Q  "  ? 

The  empty  scorn  of  men 

Will  sneer  it  doAvn  again. 

And,   0  sun-centered  high, 

Who,  too,  art  Poet, 

Beneath  Thy  tender  sky 

Each  day  new  Keatses  die, 

Calling  all  life  a  lie; 

Can  this  be  so — and  why? — 

And  canst  Thou  know  it? 

Mr.  Cawein  married  on  June  4,  1903,  Miss 
Gertrude  McKelvey,  a  noted  singer,  and  lives 
at  18  St.  James  Court,  Louisville.  Here  the 
"  Kentucky  Keats "  labors  the  whole  day 
through,  leading  strictly  the  literary  life. 
While  he  has  written  nothing  but  lyrics  hith- 
erto, would  it  not  be  worth  while  for  him  to  at- 
tempt the  drama  or  the  epic?  It  is  said  that 
Stephen  Phillips,  the  leader  of  the  younger 
generation  of  English  poets,  is  ambitious  to 
write  an  epic  of  London  life.  Now,  why  could 
not  Madison  Cawein,  the  leader  of  the  younger 
generation  of  American  poets,  combine  his 
poems  on  Kentucky  nature,  with  new  poems 
on  Kentucky  heroes,  and  give  to  the  world  a 
mighty  masterpiece — a  Kentucky  epic? 


CniVERS 


CHIVERS 

WHILE  Whitman  is  the  most  original  and 
drivers  tlie  least  original  of  our  country's 
poets,  their  idiosyncrasies  bracket  them  to- 
gether, forming  the  twin  enigmas  of  American 
letters.  The  Camden  poet  placed  thought 
above  manner  of  expression;  the  Georgia  poet 
sacrificed  sense  to  sound.  The  first  liked  the 
dark  meat;  the  second  cared  most  for  the  light 
meat.  Critics  who  study  such  men  are  usually 
overly  enthusiastic,  or  condemn  their  works 
outright  as  trash.  This  was  the  fate  of  Whit- 
man until  he  interested  Mr.  Bliss  Perry  in  his 
poetry,  and  the  admirable  biography  that  the 
editor  of  The  Atlantic  wrote  of  him  has  done 
much,  and  will  do  more,  to  make  him  less  of  a 
riddle  than  he  formerly  was.  But,  poor  dri- 
vers! No  Bliss  Perry  has  deigned  to  write  an 
adequate  account  of  his  life  and  works.  Of 
course,  there  is  Joel  Briton's  "  In  the  Poe 
Circle,-'  Hubner's  "  Representative  Southern 
Poets,"  Prof.  Ci.  E.  Woodberry's  Papers  in 
Tlic  Ccnturi/,  and  Prof.  J.  A.  Harrison's  no- 
tices in  his  Poe  volumes,  but  no  comprehen- 
sive biography.  While  the  present  writer  is 
greatly  indebted  to  the  above-named  authors, 

155 


156     Kentuckians  m  History  and  Literature 

this  study  is  not  written  to  thresh  over  their 
material,  but  accurately  to  record  Chivers's 
life  in  Kentucky.  This  is  made  possible  by  the 
recent  discovery  of  references  to  him  in  the  old 
records  of  Transylvania  University.  But  in 
presenting  his  Kentucky  life  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  write  of  his  entire  career  with  some 
degree  of  detail. 

Thomas  ITolley  drivers,  poet,  artist,  in- 
ventor, was  born  at  Digby  Manor,  near  Wash- 
ington, Georgia,  in  ISO".  ITis  ancestors  were 
English  on  both  sides,  and  he  was  given 
his  paternal  grandfather's  Christian  name. 
Thomas  Holley  was  the  eldest  of  a  family  of 
three  sons  and  four  daughters.  ITis  father 
was  Tol.  Robert  drivers,  a  wealthy  Southern 
planter;  his  mother's  family  name  was  Digby. 
He  was  fitted  for  college  at  a  well-known 
Georgia  preparatory  school,  and,  choosing 
medicine  for  his  life  work,  he  came  to  Lex- 
ington, Kentucky,  in  the  fall  of  1828,  and  en- 
tered the  Medical  School  of  the  famous  Tran- 
sylvania— now  Kentucky  University. 

The  Medical  School  began  on  the  first  Mon- 
day in  November  and  closed  on  tho  first  Sat- 
urday of  the  following  March.  Dr.  dms.  TV. 
Short  was  de;m  of  the  schood  at  the  time  dri- 
vers matriculated,  and  Avas  also  Professor  of 
Materia  Medica  and  Medical  Botany,  and  the 
following  men  were  his  colleagues:  Dr.  Wm. 


Chivers  1 57 

II.  Richardson,  Obstetrics  and  the  Diseases  of 
Women  and  Children;  Dr.  Chas.  Cahhvell,  In- 
slilnles  of  Medicine  and  Clinical  Practice; 
Dr.  I>.  W.  Dudley,  Anatomy  and  Surgery;  Dr. 
James  IJlytho,  Chemistry  and  Pharmacy;  and 
the  cliair  of  Theory  and  Pi-act  ice  of  Medicine 
was  held  by  Dr.  John  E.  Cooke.  These  were 
the  men  under  whom  Chivers  studied  during 
the  years  spent  at  Transylvania  University. 
They  are  the  greatest  names  in  the  history  of 
Kentucky  medicine  and  surgery.  As  has 
been  stated,  Chivers  entered  the  University  in 
November,  1828,  and  the  old  Transylvania 
records  show  that  he  was  the  one  hundred  and 
thirty-fifth  matriculate.  lie  took  a  ticket  for 
one  course  in  a  class  of  two  hundred  and  six 
members.  Chivers  was  undoubtedly  a  good 
student,  as  he  made  his  ticket  and  then  re- 
turned to  his  home  in  the  early  spring  of 
1829. 

November,  1829,  and  Thomas  TTolley  Chi- 
vers, of  Wilkes  County,  Georgia,  is  the  ninety- 
second  matriculate  in  a  class  of  one  hundred 
and  ninety-nine  members.  During  his  second 
year  he  took  two  tickets.  TTis  medical  precep- 
tor, that  is,  the  man  with  whom  he  studied  be- 
fore coming  to  the  University  and  also  during 
vacation,  was  Dr.  Leonidas  P..  Mercer,  a  grad- 
uate of  the  Philadelphia  Medical  College. 

On  the  morning  of  Wednesday,  March   IT, 


158     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

1830,  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Transylvania 
University  met  in  regular  session,  with  Thomas 
Nelson,  chairman  pro  tcmpore,  presiding.  A 
communication  was  received  from  Dean  Short, 
requesting  that  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medi- 
cine be  conferred  upon  seventy-one  young  men 
from  the  States  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  North 
and  South  Carolina,  Virginia,  Alabama, 
Georgia,  Mississippi,  and  Maryland.  The 
Board  immediately  conferred  the  degrees  upon 
the  class,  which  was  the  largest  one  graduated 
up  to  that  time.  On  the  same  day  the  public 
commencement  was  held  in  the  Medical  Hall, 
and  all  the  graduates  were  required  to  present 
dissertations  for  the  degree.  Chivers's  sub- 
ject was  "  Intermittent  and  Semittent  Bilious 
Fever." 

From  early  boyhood  drivers  had  written 
verse,  and  one  of  his  youthful  attempts, 
"  Georgia  Waters,"  composed  at  Transylva- 
nia University,  was  afterward  published  in 
"  Nacoochee." 

In  1832  drivers  went  North  to  live,  and 
soon  afterward  married  a  Northern  woman, 
Miss  Harriet  Hunt.  Their  first  four  children 
died  in  infancy,  but  a  son  and  two  daughters 
were  later  born  to  them.  The  son  died  when  a 
young  man,  but  the  two  daughters  are  still 
living. 

drivers  published  his  first  work,  a  tragedy, 


Olivers  159 

"  Conrad  and  Eudora,"  at  Philadelphia,  in 
1S34.  The  scene  of  this  drama  was  laid  in 
Kentucky,  and  the  incidents  were  sn. Bested 
by  real  events  connected  with  .Jeroboam 
Beauchamp's  murder  of  Col.  Solomon  I*. 
Sharp,  at  Frankfort,  Kenturky.  in  ISLTi. 
Sharp  had  been  the  betrayer  of  Ueauchamp's 
wife  before  the  latter  married  her.  When 
Beauchamp  learned  the  facts,  he  went  to 
Sharp's  home  and  killed  him.  I'oc  wrote  a 
drama  on  this  murder,  and  Charles  Fenno 
Hoffman  and  William  Ciilmore  Simms  wrote 
novels  upon  it.  During  the  following  year 
Chivers  wrote  for  the  Koullirrn  Lifrrnrii  .l/r.s>- 
Koificr,  the  famous  old  paper  of  Richmond, 
Virginia. 

In  1S37  Chivers  issued  his  first  volume  of 
poems  at  New  York,  which  he  called  "  Xacoo- 
chee,"  This  book  attracted  considerable  at- 
tention, and  the  author  spent  much  time  in 
the  North,  where  he  met  mnnv  distinguished 
persons.  There  was  nothing  in  this  first  book 
but  echoes  of  his  poetical  masters.  Moore,  Cole- 
ridge, Blake,  Keats,  Shelley,  and  tin1  P>ible. 
Tie  "  was  one  of  the  first  Americans  to  be 
'  Shelley-mad.'  '  Tie  had  been  brought  up  a 
Baptist,  but  now  lie  became  a  Swedenborginn, 
a  transcendentalist.  and  an  "  associationist." 
"  The  son  of  a  Southern  slaveholder,  a  devotee 
of  Shellev,  a  friend  of  Boston  vagaries,  Chi- 


160     KentucJcians  m  History  and  Literature 

vers  had  fallen  on  unlucky  times  " ;  and  all 
these  things  became  more  a  part  of  him  as  he 
grew  older. 

In  1840  Edgar  Allan  Poe  was  making  a  des- 
perate effort  to  launch  successfully  the  Pcnn 
Magazine  in  Philadelphia.  He  persuaded 
Chivers  to  become  one  of  his  contributors  and 
to  obtain  subscriptions  for  the  magazine.  The 
magazine  fell  through,  and  Chivers  next  heard 
from  Poe  when  Poe  "  tomahawked  "  Chivers's 
poetry.  Chivers  remonstrated,  and  Poe  apolo- 
gized. Two  years  later  Poe  again  attempted 
to  start  the  Pcnn  M^af/azinc,  and  this  time 
asked  Chivers  to  become  his  partner.  Poe 
needed  money  and  he  knew  that  Chivers  was 
about  to  get  a  large  sum  from  his  father's  es- 
tate. The  physician-poet  refused  to  join  him, 
but  he  did  obtain  some  subscriptions  for  the 
magazine.  About  this  time  Chivers  lost  his 
little  daughter  and  went  South  for  the  funeral. 
From  Augusta,  Georgia,  under  date  of  De- 
cember 7,  1842,  Chivers  wrote  Poe  one  of  the 
saddest  letters  ever  penned.  His  reference  to 
his  little  blue-eved  child  is  wonderfully  pa- 
thetic and  pitiful.  At  the  close  he  asks  Poe 
about  the  Penu  ^faf/a~hlc,  and  Poe  took  two 
years  to  answer  his  letter.  When  he  did  reply 
he  told  Chivers  that  he  hnd  changed  the  name 
of  the  magazine  to  the  Fti/lns,  and  renewed  his 
offer  to  Chivers  to  join  him.  And  again  the 


Olivers  161 

Georgia  poet  refused.  Although  they  had  cor- 
responded for  several  years,  Poe  and  Chivers 
met  for  the  first  time  in  1845  on  the  street  in 
New  York.  Poe  was  intoxicated,  and  Chivers 
took  him  home  to  Mrs.  Clemm.  When  he  was 
sober,  Chivers  called  to  see  him,  and  they  dis- 
cussed at  length  the  world's  "'  Sons  of  Song." 
Chivers  afterward  wrote  his  reminiscences  of 
Poe,  but  they  are  untrustworthy. 

Just  before  he  left  New  York  for  Georgia  he 
published  "  The  Lost  Pleiad.''  Poe  reviewed 
it  favorably  in  his  new  magazine,  The  Broarf- 
irai/  Journal.  lie  now  made  another  attempt 
to  get  money  from  Chivers  with  which  to  pay 
for  this  paper,  but  the  Doctor  was  too  wise  to 
sink  any  money  in  Poe's  mushroom  magazines. 
Two  or  three  more  letters  passed  between  the 
two  men,  but  Poe  finally  cast  Chivers  off  when 
he  saw  he  could  not  use  him  in  a  financial 
way.  Chivers  worshiped  Poe,  thought  him  the 
greatest  of  men,  condoned  his  great  weakness, 
but  had  sense  enough  not  to  let  him  burn  up 
any  of  his  money.  He  was  a  hero- worshiper, 
and  Poe  was  his  hero.  Ts  it  any  wonder  that 
he  tried  to  ape  his  master?  After  Poe's  death 
Chivers  partially  compiled  a  biography  of  him 
that  would  have  successfully  refuted,  no  doubt, 
Griswold's  attack,  had  he  lived  to  finish  it. 

Chivers's  next  book  was  "  Facets  of  Dia- 
mond," which  was  followed  by  "  Eonchs  of 


162     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

Ruby,"  his  most  famous  volume.  It  was  issued 
at  New  York  in  1851,  and  contained  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-eight  pages.  Scholars  are  in- 
debted to  Professor  Harrison  for  discovering 
the  meaning  of  Eonch-horn,  shell.  The  titles 
of  Chivers's  other  works,  given  in  the  order  of 
their  publication,  are:  "  Virginalia,"  1853; 
"  Memoralia,"  published  during  the  same  year, 
containing  "  Eonchs  of  Ruby,"  preceded  by  a 
long  poem;  "Atlanta,"  1855;  "The  Sons'  of 
Usna,"  a  five-act  drama,  published  at  Phila- 
delphia in  1858 ;  and  his  last  volume,  the  only 
one  with  a  conventional  title,  "  Heroes  of 
Freedom." 

A  complete  set  of  Chivers's  works  is  to  be 
found  only  in  the  British  Museum;  Brown 
University  possesses  six  of  the  ten  volumes. 
Individual  volumes  are  owned  by  the  poets 
Stedman  and  Swinburne,  both  of  whom,  and 
especially  Swinburne,  are  great  admirers  of 
Chivers's  poetry. 

Although  primarily  a  poet,  Chivers  was  also 
an  artist  and  an  inventor.  He  made  several 
creditable  portraits  of  his  family  and  some 
splendid  pen-and-ink  sketches.  He  had  an  in- 
ventive mind,  not  only  for  the  coining  of  curi- 
ous words  and  phrases,  but  for  practical 
inventions.  He  originated  a  machine  for  un- 
winding the  fiber  from  silk  cocoons,  that  won 
a  prize  at  a  Southern  exposition.  Chivers  was 
also  a  Hebrew  scholar  of  recognized  ability. 


Chivers  163 

The  many  biblical  allusions  in  liis  poetry  are 
the  result  of  his  study  in  this  field. 

We  come  now  to  the  famous  Poe-Cliivers 
controversy.  It  is  essentially  a  one-sided  af- 
fair, Chivers  and  his  friends  being  the  ones 
who  fed  the  flames.  It  was  in  a  letter  to  Wil- 
liam Gilmore  Simnis  that  Chivers  said  Poe 
stole  the  words  "  Lenore,"  "  nevermore,"  and 
the  form  and  rhythm  of  "  The  Raven  "  from 
him,  and  then  added  that  he  was  "  the  South- 
ern man  who  taught  Mr.  Poe  all  these  things.'1 
To  another  friend  Thivers  wrote,  "  Poe  stole  all 
his  'Raven'  from  me;  but  was  the  greatest 
poetical  critic  that  ever  existed."  Chivers's 
friends  took  up  this  charge,  it  was  denied  by 
Poe's  friends,  and  thus  the  battle  has  been 
waged  for  over  half  a  century.  The  charge  is 
altogether  absurd,  but,  in  order  to  allow  the 
reader  to  judge  for  himself,  "  To  Allegra  Flor- 
ence in  Heaven  "  is  reproduced  in  part.  It 
was  written  in  1842,  about  two  years  before 
"The  Raven"  was  published,  and  is  the  so- 
called  "original"  of  Poe's  great  poem: 

When  thy  soft  round  form  was  lying 
On  (he  l)od  where  thon  Avert  sighing. 
I  could  not  believe  thee  dying, 

Till  thy  angel-sonl  had   fled; 
For  no  sickness  gave   me  warning, 
Rosy  health  thy  cheek's   adorning  — 
Till    Hint    hope-destroying    morning. 

When  my  precious  child  lay  dead  ! 


164     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

Xow,  thy  white  shroud  covers,  slightly 
Thy  pale  limbs,  which  were  so  sprightly, 
While  thy  snow-white  arms  lie  lightly 

On  thy  soul-abandoned  breast; 
As  the  dark  blood  faintly  lingers 
In  thy  pale,  cold,  lily  fingers, 
Thou,  the  sweetest  of  Heaven's  singers ! 

Just  above  thy  heart  at  rest ! 


Holy  angels  now  are  bending 
To  receive  thy  soul  ascending 
Up  to  Heaven  to  joys  unending, 

And  to  bliss  which  is  divine; 
While  thy  pale,  cold  form  is  fading 
Under  death's  dark  wings  now  shading 
Thee  with  gloom  which  is  pervading 

This  poor,  broken  heart  of  mine! 

For,  as  birds  of  the  same  feather 
On  the  earth  will  flock  together, 
So,  around  thy  Heavenly  Father. 

They  now  gather  there  with  thee — 
Ever  joyful  to  behold  thee — • 
Jn  their  soft  arms  to  enfold  thee. 
And  to  whisper  words  oft  told  thee 

In  this  trving  world  bv  me! 
With  my  bowed   head  thus  reclining 
On   my   hand,   my   heart   repining, 
Shall  my   salt  tears,  ever  shining 

On  my  pale  cheeks,  flow  for  thee — • 
Bitter  soul-drops  ever  stealing 
From   the  fount  of  holy  feeling. 
Deepest  anguish  now  revealing, 

For  thy  loss,  dear  child  !   to  me ! 


Chivers  165 

As  an  egg,  when  broken,  never 
Can  be  mended,  but  must  ever 
He   the  same  crushed   egg   forever—- 
So shall  this  dark  heart  of  mine! 
Which,   though   broken,   is  si  ill   breaking, 
And  shall  never  more  eease  aching 
For  the  sleep  which  has  no  waking-- 
For  the  sleep  which  now  is  thine! 

And  as  Cod  doth  lift  thy  spirit 
Up  to  Heaven,  there  to  inherit 
Those  rewards  which  it  doth  merit. 

Such  as  none  have  reaped   before; 
Thy  dear  father  will,  to-morrow, 
Lay  thy  body,  with  deep  sorrow, 
Jn  the  grave  which   is  so  narrow — 

There  to  rest  for  evermore! 

Iii  Joel  Benton's  opinion  "  the  most  Poe-like 
and  the  best  of  his  pieces  is  undoubtedly  his 
<  Lily  Adair.' " 


The  Apollo  Belvidere  was   adorning 

The  Chamber  where  Eulalie  lay, 
While  Aurora,  the  Rose  of  the  Morning. 

Smiled  full  in  the  face  of  the  Day. 
All  around  stood  the  beautiful  Graces 

Bathing   Venus — some  combing  her  hair — 
While  she  lay  in  her  husband's  embraces 

A-moulding   my    Lily    Adair — • 

Of  my   fawn-like   Lily   Adair — 

Of  my  dove-like  Lily  Adair — 

Of  my  beautiful,  dutiful  Lily  Adair. 


166     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 


II 

Where  the  Oreads  played  in  the  Highlands, 

And   the   Water-Xymphs   bathed    in   the   streams, 
In  the  tall  Jasper  Eeeds  of  the  Islands — 

She  wandered  in  life's  early  dreams. 
For  the  Wood-Nymphs  then  brought  from  the  Wild- 
wood 

The  turtle-doves  Venus  kept  there, 
Which  the  Dryades  tamed,  in  his  childhood, 

For  Cupid,  to  Lily  Adair — 

To  my  dove-like  Lily  Adair — 

To  my  lamb-like  Lily  Adair — 

To  my  beautiful,  dutiful  Lily  Adair. 

Ill 

Where  the  Opaline  Swan  circled,  singing, 

With  her  eider-down  Cygnets  at  noon, 
In  the  tall  Jasper  Eecds  that  were  springing 

From  the  marge  of  the  crystal  Lagoon — 
Eich   Canticles,  clarion-like,  golden, 

Such  as  only  true  love  can  declare, 
Like  an  Archangel's  voice  in  times  olden — 

I  went  with  my  Lily  Adair — 

With  my  lamb-like  Lily  Adair — 

With  my  saint-like  Lily  Adair — 

With  my  beautiful,  dutiful  Lily  Adair. 


IV 

Her  eyes,  lily-lidded,  were  azure. 

Cerulean,  celestial,  divine — 
Suffused  with  the  soul-light  of  pleasure, 

Which  drew  all  the  soul  out  of  mine. 


CUvers  167 


She  had  all  the  rich  grace  of  the  Graces, 

And  all  that  they  had  not  to  spare; 
For  it  took  all  their  heautiful   faces 
To  make  one  for  Lily  Adair — 
For   my   Christ-like    Lily    Adair — 
For  my  J leaven-horn   Lily  Adair — 
For  my  beautiful,  dutiful   Lily  Adair. 


She  was  fairer  hv  far  than  that  Maiden, 
The  star-hright  Cassiope, 

Who  was  taken  hy  angels  to  Aiden, 
And  crowned  with  eternity. 

For  her  heauty  the  Sea-Xvmphs  offended, 
Because  so  surpassingly   fair; 

And  so  death  then  the  precious  life  ended 
Of  my   heaiitiful    Lilv   Adair — 
Of  my   Heaven-horn   Lily  Adair — 
Of  my  star-crowned   Lily  Adair — 
Of  my  heautiful,  dutiful  Lily  Adair. 


VI 

From  her  Paradise-Isles  in  the  ocean, 
To  the  heautiful  City  of  On. 

By  the  mellifluent  rivers  of  Goshen, 
My  beautiful  Lily  is  gone! 

In  her  Chariot  of  Fire  translated. 

Like  Elijah,  she  passed  through  the  air, 

To  the  City  of  God  golden-gated — 
The  Home  of  my  Lily  Adair — 
Of  my   star-crowned   Lily  Adair  - 
Of  my   God-loved  Lily  Adair — 
Of  my  heautiful.  dutiful  Lily  Adair. 


168     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 


VII 

On  the  vista-path  made  by  the  Angels, 

In  her  Chariot  of  Fire,  she  rode. 
While  the  Cherubim  sang  their  Evangels — 

To  the  Gates  of  the  City  of  God. 
For  the  Cherubim-land  that  went  with  her, 

I  saw  them  pass  out  of  the  air — 
I  saw  them  go  up  through  the  ether 

Into  Heaven  with  my  Lily  Adair— 

With  my  Christ-like  Lily  Adair — 

With  my  God-like  Lily  Adair— 

With  my  beautiful,  dutiful  Lily  Adair. 

In  1856  Chivers  returned  to  Georgia  and 
made  his  home  in  Decatur.  lie  was  now  of- 
fered the  chair  of  physiology  in  a  Southern 
medical  college,  but  ill  health  compelled  him 
to  decline.  lie  died  at  his  Decatur  home,  De- 
cember 18,  1858.  Ilis  death  was  noticed  all 
over  the  country,  and  a  Danish  scholar  wrote 
an  elegy  on  the  event. 

Chivers  had  the  poet's  face.  An  old  picture 
reveals  a  fine  mouth,  deep-set  eyes,  black  hair, 
high  forehead,  altogether  a  splendid  ensemble. 

What  will  probably  prove  to  be  his  most  im- 
mortal stanza  is  one  in  "  Rosalie  Lee,"  that 
Bayard  Taylor  called  attention  to.  This  title 
was  a  double  steal  from  Poe  and  Philip  P. 
Cooke. 


Olivers  169 

Many  mellow  Cydonian  suckets, 

.Sweet  apples,  anthosmal,  divine, 
From    the   ruby-rimmed   beryline   buckets, 

Star-gemmed,    lily-sbaped,    hyaline; 
Like  the  sweet  golden  goblet  found  growing 

On  the  wild  emerald  cucumber-tree, 
Rieh,  brilliant,  like  chrysoprase  glowing, 

Was  my  beautiful  .Rosalie  Lee. 

While  Chivers  filched  Poo's  titles  and  what 
little  thought  there  was  in  Foe's  poems,  no  man 
can  accuse  the  Doctor  of  having  appropriated 
Poe's  vocabulary  or  his  tropes.  His  diction 
and  figures  are  certainly  something  new  under 
the  literary  sun.  He  would  never  have  claimed 
to  be  Poo's  precursor  had  ho  not  boon  troubled 
with  the  "  Orphic  egotism."  Of  course,  Poe, 
road  Chivors's  poems  as  he  did  many  others, 
and  they  had  a  place  in  the  making  of  "  The 
Raven,"  but  that  he  should  claim  any  of  his 
poems  to  have  boon  the  original  of  Poe's  mas- 
terpiece was  to  make  himself  absurd  in  the 
eyes  of  all  mankind.  Professor  Woodborry  has 
stated  the  real  difference  between  the  immor- 
tal Poo  and  the  "  almost  "  immortal  Chivers 
— •"  The  difference  was  that  Poe  was  a  genius, 
while  Chivers  onlv  thought  he  was  one." 


ONE    WORD    MORE 


WIIKX  Jesus  Christ  said,  "A  prophet  is  not 
without  honor,  but  in  his  own  country,  and 
among  his  own  kin,  and  in  his  own  house,-'  He 
spoke  a  truth  which  Kentucky's  literati  have 
found  cruelly  true.  Now,  I  do  not  claim  Ken- 
tucky has  given  to  the  world  more  than  a  very 
few  writers  who  could  be  called  prophets,  or 
the  sons  of  prophets,  but  I  do  claim  Kentucky 
has  produced  several  writers  who  are  more 
than  herdsmen  and  gatherers  of  wild  figs. 

It  is  indeed  hard  lines  when  the  best  in- 
formed man  on  Kentucky  history  can  write 
that  our  State  is  a  poor  one  in  which  to  sell 
books;  authors  are  more  likely  to  starve  here 
than  in  any  other  State;  and  adds,  he  has  been 
watching  the  trade  for  over  fifty  years,  and 
knows  only  a  half  dozen  books  which  have 
made  money  for  the  authors.  But  one  may 
ask :  "  Do  Kentucky  authors  write  books 
merely  for  money?  •'  "  HOAV  about  art  for 
art's  sake?  "  The  fact  that  only  one  literary 
man,  HOAV  a.  resident  of  Kentucky,  lives  solely 
by  his  pen,  answers  the  first  interrogation;  the 
others  are  ministers,  professors,  lawyers,  jour- 

173 


174     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

nalists,  etc.  To  the  second  question,  be  it  said, 
Kentucky  authors  are  writing  not  for  art's 
sake,  but  for  humanity's  sake. 

In  the  final  chapter  of  this  book  I  desire  to 
call  attention  to  the  living  Kentucky  writers 
who  are  struggling  for  recognition.  They  may 
almost  be  called  the  submerged  persons  of 
Kentucky  life.  For  lack  of  space,  little  more 
than  the  roll  will  be  called — just  a  note  about 
each  writer. 

The  foremost  Kentucky  novelists  of  to-day, 
James  Lane  Allen  and  John  Fox,  Jr.,  will  be 
dismissed  with  just  a  word  of  comparative 
criticism,  as  both  are  well-known  figures  in 
contemporary  American  letters,  and  need  no 
encomiums  at  my  hands.  Fox  can  tell  a  story 
better  than  Allen,  but  the  older  writer  has  been 
more  fortunate  in  choosing  his  backgrounds, 
and  in  the  style  of  prose  that  has  chiefly  char- 
acterized Kentucky  novelists  from  the  begin- 
ning— description — Allen  is  Fox's  superior. 
It  would,  of  course,  be  superfluous  to  say  any- 
thing additional  about  the  leader  of  our  living 
poets,  Mr.  Tawein,  as  one  paper  has  already 
been  devoted  to  his  life  and  work.  It  will  also 
be  unnecessary  to  mention  the  authors  of  the 
Filson  Club  publications,  most  of  whom  are 
still  with  us,  as  they,  too,  have  been  treated. 

That  more  fiction  is  being  written  by  the 
present  generation  of  American  writers  than 


One  Word  More  175 

all  other  forma  of  literature  combined,  no  one 
will  gainsay.  Tliis  is  especially  true  of  Ken- 
tucky's writers.  And  because1  we  have  more 
fiction  to  deal  with  than  any  other  branch  of 
literature,  fiction  will  be  considered  first. 

A  woman  who  has  produced  novels  compar- 
able to  any  ever  written  by  an  American 
woman  is  GeHrude  Atherton.  Although  born 
in  California,  Kentucky  has  a  claim  on  her. 
In  a  persona]  letter,  written  from  Munich,  to 
the  present  writer,  Mrs.  Atherton  tells  of  her 
Kentucky  life:  "T  attended  Sayre  Institute 
for  a  year  when  T  was  sixteen,  being  sent  East 
for  my  health.  The  doctor  ordered  a  rigorous 
winter,  and  as  my  grandfather  had  a  sister, 
Mrs.  "Robert  Bullock,  living  in  Lexington,  I 
was  sent  to  her.  I  remained  only  a  year.  .  .  . 
No,  T  have  never  written  of  Kentucky;  why,  T 
hardly  know,  for  my  memories  of  my  sojourn 
there  are  of  the  pleasantest.  I  have  never  for- 
gotten my  delight  in  the  first  snow-storm  and 
my  first  nutting  expedition  in  the  woods." 
"The  Conqueror,''  a  dramatized  biography, 
and  "  Hamilton's  Letters  "  conclusively  prove 
Mrs.  Atherton  to  be  the  greatest  living  student 
of  Alexander  Hamilton.  "  Tlulers  of  Kings," 
"  The  Bell  in  the  Fog."  and  her  latest  book, 
"  TJezanov,"  have  given  her  high  rank  among 
American  writers  of  prose  fiction. 

A    woman    upon    whom    Kentucky    has    a 


176     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

stronger  claim  than  upon  Mrs.  Atlierton  is 
Alice  Hegan  Rice.  Born  in  Shelbyville,  Ken- 
tucky, thirty-seven  years  ago,  she  was  edu- 
cated at  Hampton  College,  Louisville,  and  im- 
mediately began  to  write.  She  had  a  trunk 
full  of  rejected  manuscripts  when  the  Cen- 
tury Company  accepted  "  Mrs.  Wiggs  of  the 
Cabbage  Patch,"  in  1901.  The  book  may  be 
rightfully  called  an  epic  of  optimism.  It 
struck  out  an  untrodden  path  in  American  fic- 
tion. Alice  Caldwell  Hegan  was  the  name 
that  appeared  on  the  title-page  of  the  first  edi- 
tions of  "  Mrs.  Wiggs  " ;  but  in  the  winter  of 
1902  Miss  Hegan  married  Cale  Young  Rice,  a 
man  of  letters,  two  years  her  junior.  In  1903 
Mrs.  Rice's  second  book,  "  Lovey  Mary,"  ap- 
peared. In  only  one  chapter  did  she  rise  to 
the  heights  attained  in  her  first  novel.  Two 
years  ago  in  "  Sandy  "  she  told  the  love-story 
of  a  young  Scotchman  transplanted  on  Ken- 
tucky soil.  Mrs.  Rice's  fourth  book  will  prob- 
ably be  published  during  this  year. 

Ingram  Crockett  was  born  in  Henderson, 
Kentucky,  February  10,  1850.  His  father  was 
a  well-known  lawyer  and  orator.  Mr.  Crock- 
ett was  educated  at  the  Henderson  public 
schools,  and  then  married  Mary  C.  Stites  in 
1887.  His  first  work,  a  book  of  poems,  enti- 
tled "  Beneath  Blue  Skies  and  Gray,"  was 
published  some  years  ago.  The  poem  on  Au- 


One  Word  More  177 

duhon  is  especially  line.  This  volume  was 
followed  by  u  A  Year-Hook  of  Kentucky  Woods 
and  Fields.'1  A  finer  piece  of  nature  prose  has 
never  been  written  in  Kentucky.  .Mr.  Crock- 
ett's latest  book,  "A  Hi-other  of  Christ,"  is  a 
highly  religious  story.  There  is  a  sect  in  west- 
ern Kentucky  known  as  Christiandelphians, 
and  the  hero  of  the  author's  story  is  a  believer 
in  this  form  of  religion.  How  he  broke  away 
from  this  belief  and  came  out  a  well-rounded 
Christian  is  Mr.  Crockett's  part  to  tell. 

One  of  Kentucky's  proudest  hopes  in  fiction 
is  Abbie  Carter  Goodloe,  the  daughter  of  a  dis- 
tinguished Kentucky  lawyer,  born  in  Ver- 
sailles, Kentucky,  and  graduated  from  "NYelles- 
ley  in  1898.  In  the  following  year  her  first 
book,  "  College  Girls,'1  appeared.  Four  years 
later.  "  Calvert  of  Strathore,"  with  its  French 
background,  was  issued,  bearing  the  Seribner 
imprint.  In  1905  the  same  firm  brought-  out 
her  best  and  latest  book,  "At  the  Foot  of  the 
Hookies."  Competent  critics  have  favorably 
compared  this  work  with  some  of  Kipling's 
best  stories.  Miss  Goodloe's  home  is  in  liter- 
ary Louisville,  but  she  spends  a  great  deal  of 
her  time  in  traveling. 

Edwin  Carl  Me  Litsey's  first  book,  "The 
Princess  of  Granfalon,"  was  a  daring  piece  of 
imagination,  but  his  "  Love  Story  of  Abner 
Stone'1  was  milder,  sweeter,  and  more  digni- 


178     KentucMans  in  History  and  Literature 

fled.  The  story  reminds  one  of  Mr.  Allen's 
"  A  Kentucky  Cardinal/'  and  it  does  not  suffer 
by  comparison  with  that  little  masterpiece. 
Something  over  a  year  ago  Mr.  Litsey's  latest 
book,  "  The  Race  of  the  Swift,"  a  story  of  wild 
animals,  was  brought  out  by  Little,  Brown  & 
Company.  He  has  a  new  novel  and  a  book  of 
essays  that  will  appear  this  winter. 

Mr.  Litsey's  friend,  Frank  Waller  Allen, 
had  an  exquisite  idyl  of  Kentucky  life  issued 
last  year,  entitled  "  Back  to  Arcady."  The 
chaste  language  and  high  moral  tone  should 
have  commended  the  book  to  more  readers 
than  it  did.  Students  of  Kentucky  letters  are 
now  looking  toward  Missouri  with  wistful 
eyes  for  Mr.  Allen's  new  book,  "  Old  Authors 
to  Read,"  which  will  be  issued  this  fall. 

Born  in  Kentucky  in  1849,  James  Newton 
Baskett  migrated  to  Missouri  and  graduated 
from  Missouri  State  University.  Ill  health 
compelled  him  to  go  to  Colorado,  where  he 
spent  several  years.  Mr.  Baskett  has  writ- 
ten three  standard  zoological  works,  and  the 
Macmillan  Company  issued  his  first  two 
novels — -"At  Yon-All's  Rouse  "  and  "As  the 
Light  Led."  ITis  latest  work,  "  Sweet  Brier 
and  Thistledown,"  was  published  four  or  five 
years  ago. 

Mary  Raymond  Sliipman  Andrews  is  one  of 
the  cleverest  of  the  present-day  school  of  novel- 


One  Word  More  179 

ists.  She  is  the  daughter  of  a  distinguished 
Episcopal  minister  and  an  "  all-Kentuckian.'' 
"Vive  L'Enipereur,"  "A  Kidnapped  Colony," 
"  Bob  and  the  Guides,"  "  The  Perfect  Tribute/7 
and  "  The  Militants  "  are  her  published  works. 
Probably  the  best  thing  Mrs.  Andrews  has 
done  is  "The  Perfect  Tribute ''-—Lincoln's  re- 
ception  at  Gettysburg. 

The  associate  editor  of  the  Courier-Journal, 
Harrison  Robertson,  is  a  Teimesseean  born. 
Mr.  Ivobertson  is  more  of  a  journalist  than  a 
novelist,  but  he  has  written  six  works  of  fic- 
tion :  "  How  the  Derby  Was  Won,"  "  If  1  Were 
a  Man,"  "  Ked  Blood  and  Blue,"  "The  In- 
lander," "  The  Opponents,"  and  his  most  re- 
cent novel,  "  The  Pink  Typhoon,"  an  auto- 
mobile love-story. 

Elizabeth  Robins  was  born  in  Kentucky  and 
educated  in  Ohio.  She  is  now  living  in  Lon- 
don. Miss  Robins  has  written  "  Fatal  Gift  of 
Beauty,"  k' The  Open  Question,"  "The  Mag- 
netic Xorth,"  "A  Dark  Lantern,"  and  her 
latest  story,  u  Come  and  Find  Me,"  is  running 
serially  in  The  Century  at  the  present  time. 
She  has  also  produced  a  play,  "  Votes  for 
Women/-  that  is  an  English  sensation. 

Three  Kentucky  women  have  won  the  hearts 
of  many  children  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic 
by  their  stories  of  child  life.  Mrs.  Annie  Fel- 
lows Johnston  with  her  famous  "  Little  Colo- 


180     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

nel "  series;  Mrs.  George  Madden  Martin  with 
"Emmy  Lou,"  "The  House  of  Fulfillment/' 
and  her  latest  story,  "  Letitia :  Nursery  Corps, 
U.  S.  A.";  and  Mrs.  Martin's  sister,  Eva  A. 
Madden,  now  living  in  Italy,  has  written 
historical  books  for  children  in  a  remarkably 
simple  manner.  Miss  Madden's  "  Two  Royal 
Foes  "  will  be  issued  in  time  for  the  Christ- 
mas trade.  A  boy's  story,  of  the  Cooper  type, 
was  told  by  Garrett  M.  Davis,  "  In  the 
Footsteps  of  Boone."  John  H.  Bacon,  born  in 
Maine,  now  a  resident  of  Kentucky,  wrote 
"  The  Pursuit  of  Phyllis."  Nancy  Huston 
Banks  has  written  one  good  novel,  "  Oldfield." 
Eleanor  T.  Kinkead's  "  The  Invisible  Bond,"  a 
novel  of  present-day  Kentucky  life,  was  a  good 
seller  last  summer.  Mrs.  H.  D.  Pittman  told 
the  love-story  of  a  Harvard  man,  and  pre- 
served some  splendid  traditions  in  "  The  Belle 
of  the  Blue  Grass  Country." 

A  Methodist  clergyman,  George  V.  Morris, 
has  two  successful  novels  to  his  credit :  "  A 
Man  for  a'  That,"  a  religious  story  of  college 
life,  and  "  Polly,"  a  novel  of  ideals.  Dr.  Mor- 
ris bids  fair  to  become  "  the  Kentucky  Kings- 
ley."  Hallie  Erminie  Rives  won  an  audience 
with  "  Hearts  Courageous,"  and  "  The  Cast- 
away," based  on  Lord  Byron's  life.  In  "  Tales 
from  Dickens"  Miss  Rives,  who  recently  mar- 
ried in  Japan  and  is  now  Mrs.  Post  Wheeler, 


One  Word  More  181 

has  done  for  Dickens  what  Lamb  did  for 
Shakespeare.  Two  Kentucky  women  who  have 
made  good  in  Washington  journalism  and  have 
written  one  hook  each  are  Kstelle  11.  Maiming, 
"llaliz,"  and  Daisy  Fitzhugh  Ayres,  "The 
Conquest." 

Two  "  old-timers "  in  the  world  of  fiction 
who  are  still  in  the  land  of  the  living  are  Mary 
J.  Holmes,  a  daughter  of  Massachusetts,  but 
who  was  living  in  Kentucky  when  she  wrote 
"  Tempest  and  Sunshine,"  "  Lena  Kivers," 
etc. ;  and  Sallie  II.  Ford,  whose  "  Grace  Tru- 
man "  was  a  great  family  favorite  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago.  Joseph  A.  Altsheler  has 
made  a  fictional  tour  of  American  history, 
writing  "  Guthrie  of  the  Times,"  "  The  Candi- 
date," and  nine  other  novels.  A  celebrated 
chemist  who  has  snatched  time  enough  from 
his  scientific  duties  to  write  "  Stringtowu  on 
the  Pike,"  "  Warwick  of  the  Knobs,"  and 
"  Redhead,"  is  John  Uri  Lloyd.  Born  in  New 
Orleans,  Abby  Meguire  Kosch  became  a  resi- 
dent of  this  State  at  an  early  age.  Besides 
many  magazine  articles,  she  has  had  "  Some 
Successful  Marriages."  Some  clever  dialect 
stories  were  told  by  James  T.  Ellis  in  "  Sprigs 
o'  Mint."  Prof.  'lL  II.  Wilson  ("Kichard 
Fisguill  ")  produced  a  Kentucky  extravaganza 
in  "  The  Venus  of  Cadiz."  A  young  woman 
who  has  written  much  magazine  stuff  will 


182     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

have  out  her  first  book  this  coining  winter- 
Miss  Venita  Seibert,  "  The  Gossamer  Thread." 
The  most  prolific  Kentucky  novelist  of  the 
year  1900  was  Ivoe  II.  nobbs.  Mr.  Ilobbs  pub- 
lished three  books :  "  Zaos,"  "  Gates  of  Flame," 
and  "  The  Court  of  Pilate."  Two  Kentucky 
novels  that  have  sold  as  companions,  although 
published  by  different  firms,  are  "  The  Lady 
of  the  Decoration,"  by  Mrs.  Frances  Caldwell 
Macauley  ( "  Frances  Little  " ) ,  and  "  Aunt 
Jane  of  Kentucky,"  by  Mrs.  Lida  Calvert 
Obenchain  ("Eliza  Calvert  Hall").  Both 
books  rank  with  the  "  six  best  sellers."  Wil- 
liam E.  Barton,  J.  M.  Clay,  Frances  A.  Harris, 
Agnes  L.  Hill,  Mary  Leonard,  A.  C.  Minogue, 
George  Eathborne,  K.  S.  McKinney  ("Katy- 
did"), who  has  recently  turned  novelist,  writ- 
ing "  The  Silent  Witness  " ;  Langdon  Smith 
and  H.  M.  Wharton  are  all  living  Kentucky 
novelists  who  have  written  successful  works  of 
fiction. 

The  old  division  of  poetry  will  be  followed 
in  discussing  the  Kentucky  poets  of  the  pres- 
ent generation.  The  lyric  poets  will  be  first 
considered.  After  Cawein,  Eobert  Burns  Wil- 
son finds  his  place.  Mr.  Wilson  was  born  in 
Pennsylvania,  October  30,  1850.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  home  and  in  Virginia,  moving  to  the 
latter  State  when  twenty-two  years  of  age. 
Soon  afterward  he  removed  to  Frankfort,  Ken- 


One  Word  More  183 

tucky,  in  which  town  his  best  literary  and  ar- 
tistic work  was  done.  lie  has  published  two 
volumes  of  poems,  "  Life  and  Love,"  "  Shad- 
ows of  the  Trees,"  and  a  novel,  "  Until  the 
Daybreak/'  Mr.  Wilson  is  now  living  in  New 
York,  and  is  giving  practically  all  his  time  to 
painting.  "  The  Shrine  of  Love  and  Other 
Poems  "  marked  Lucien  V.  Rule  as  a  poet  of 
ability.  The  title  poem  is  in  eight  parts,  and 
it  takes  up  the  major  portion  of  the  book.  The 
remaining  poems  are  lyrics  of  love  and  free- 
dom. Mr.  Rule's  latest  work,  entitled  "  When 
John  Bull  Comes  A-Courtin',"  is  a  collection 
of  political  and  social  satires. 

The  last  leaf  on  the  old  Prentice  poetical 
tree  is  Mrs.  John  J.  Piatt,  now  living  in  Ohio. 
A  poem  already  referred  to  in  this  book,  "  A 
Word  with  a  Skylark,"  is,  to  me,  her  best  poem. 
Wm.  II.  Brashear,  Alice  Brotherton,  Laura 
G.  Collins,  George  W.  Doneghy,  John  A. 
Joyce,  William  W.  Harney,  Morrison  Heady, 
E/B.  Finck,  Will  J.  Lampton,  R.  M.  Lucky, 
and  Mrs.  Lillian  R.  Messenger,  whose  new 
book,  "  The  Heroine  of  the  Hudson,"  contains 
a  spirited  tribute  to  Gen.  Fitzhugh  Lee,  are 
all  well-known  figures  in  contemporary  Amer- 
ican poetry.  Charles  Hanson  Towne,  asso- 
ciate editor  of  77;*°  Smart  Set,  is  a  native  Ken- 
tuckian  who  has  written  excellent  rcrs  dc 
societe. 


184     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

Kentucky  has  three  poets  who  have  at- 
tempted the  epic.  In  the  "  Song  of  Lancas- 
ter," written  in  the  Hiawathan  metre,  Mrs.  E. 
D.  Potts  elicited  praise  from  the  author  of  the 
American  Indian  epic.  William  L.  Visscher, 
besides  being  the  author  of  several  works  of 
fiction  and  many  lyrics,  wrote  "  Chicago :  An 
Epic."  It  is  a  metrical  history  of  the  Windy 
City  and  contains  many  fine  lines.  Another 
Kentuckian  who  has  made  a  place  for  himself 
in  the  life  of  Alabama  is  Warfield  Creath 
Richardson.  "  Gaspar,"  a  metrical  romance, 
was  followed  by  Mr.  Richardson's  epic,  "  The 
Fall  of  the  Alamo." 

Only  one  successful  stage  drama  has  been 
written  by  a  son  of  Kentucky;  the  others  are 
only  closet-dramas.  Charles  Turner  Dazey, 
born  in  another  State  but  educated  at  a  Ken- 
tucky college,  wrote  "  In  Old  Kentucky,"  which 
has  held  the  stage  for  fifteen  years.  Mr.  Dazey 
is  also  the  author  of  several  other  stage 
dramas.  A  prominent  Presbyterian  minister, 
Peyton  Harrison  Iloge,  author  of  "  Moses  D. 
Iloge,"  a  biography  of  his  distinguished  uncle, 
has  written  a  biblical  drama,  "  The  Divine 
Tragedy."  John  W.  Keller's  "  Tangled  Lives," 
Edwin  D.  Schoonmaker's  "  The  Saxons,"  an 
attack  on  Christianity,  Cale  Young  Rice's 
poetic  dramas,  "  David,"  "  Charles  di  Tocca," 
"  Yolanda,"  and  "  A  Night  in  Avignon,"  are 


One  Word  More  185 

intended     for    the    study    aud    not    for    the 
stage. 

In  historical  literature  several  Kentuckians 
have  done  painstaking,  thoughtful  work.  Pres- 
ident Ethelbert  D.  Warh'eld's  historical  study 
of  u  The  Kentucky  Resolutions,"  and  his 
"  Life  of  Joseph  C.  Breckinridge,  Jr.,"  are 
beyond  any  adverse  criticism.  ''  At  the  Even- 
ing Hour"  reveals  the  spiritual  side  of  the 
author. 

Bishop  John  L.  Spalding,  with  a  life  of 
Martin  J.  Spaldiug,  an  ode  to  Kentucky,  and 
several  volumes  of  deeply  religious  poetry,  has 
made  a  place  for  himself  in  American  letters. 
Margaret  V.  Smith  has  written  "  The  Gov- 
ernors of  Virginia "  and  "  Virginia,  1492- 
1892.''  "Morgan's  Cavalry/'  by  Gen.  Basil 
W.  Duke,  published  over  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury ago,  was  issued  last  year  bearing  the 
Xeale  Publishing  Company's  imprint.  The 
same  firm  brought  out  "  Confederate  Opera- 
tions in  Canada  and  New  York,''  the  work  of 
a  former  Kentucky  Secretary  of  State,  John 
W.  Ileadley.  A  volume  containing  excellent 
sketches  of  public  men  of  the  last  two  decades 
was  O.  O.  Stealey's  "  Twenty  Years  in  the 
Press  Gallery."  Joseph  M.  Rogers'*  "  True 
ITonry  Clay  "  was  a  fair  estimate  of  the  states- 
man. William  E.  Connelly  has  written  biog- 
raphies of  John  Brown,  James  II.  Lane,  and 


186     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

Senator  John  J.  Ingalls.  George  M.  Cruik- 
shank  wrote  the  story  of  the  governors  and 
supreme  court  justices  of  Alabama.  Miss 
Emily  V.  Mason  is  the  author  of  the  first  life 
of  Lee,  and  also  the  compiler  of  "  Southern 
Poems  of  the  War."  Louise  Manly's  "  South- 
ern Writers "  is  the  standard  anthology  of 
Southern  authors.  Gross  Alexander,  Henry 
E.  Dosker,  L.  P.  Little,  J.  L.  Stickney,  W.  J. 
Hendrick,  and  Lydia  A.  Ward  have  written 
adequate  biographies  of  their  subjects.  Good 
school  histories  have  been  prepared  by  E.  S. 
Kinkead,  Emma  Connelly,  and  Caroline  V. 
Chenoweth.  The  "  History  of  Higher  Educa- 
tion in  Kentucky "  was  written  by  Alvin 
Fayette  Lewis,  President  of  Waynesburg  Col- 
lege, Pennsylvania. 

Probably  the  most  important  Kentucky  au- 
tobiography issued  in  recent  years  was  that 
of  Dr.  S.  D.  Gross,  edited  by  his  sons,  one  of 
whom  was  born  in  this  State.  Dr.  Gross  was 
a  Kentuckian  by  adoption.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  faculty  of  the  Louisville  Medical  Col- 
lege for  sixteen  years.  Dr.  Gross  Avrote  the 
authoritative  life  of  Dr.  Ephraim  McDowell, 
in  which  he  established  McDowell's  claim  as 
being  the  Father  of  Ovariotomy.  Mary  An- 
derson, the  celebrated  actress,  was  reared  in 
Louisville,  and  made  her  debut  there.  Some 


One  Word  More  187 

years  ago  she  wrote  "A  Few  Memories,"  a 
book  of  stage  reminiscences.  In  literary  criti- 
cism Kentucky  lias  four  well-equipped  critics. 
Professor  K.  P.  I  In  Heck  is  (he  author  of  a  text- 
hook  on  English  literature,  and  has  also  edited 
"  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans."  John  ('}.  Speed, 
editor  of  the  "  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Keats," 
is  a  great-nephew  of  the  poet,  being  the  grand- 
son of  Keats's  brother  George,  who  emigrated 
to  America  and  lived  for  many  years  in  Ken- 
tucky. George  Keats  died  at  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky, in  1842.  Two  newspaper  critics  of  abil- 
ity are  Evelyn  Snead  Barnett,  Mrs.  Waltz's 
successor  as  literary  editor  of  the  Courier- 
Journal,  and  Montgomery  Phister,  dramatic 
critic  of  the  Commercial  Tribune.  A  political 
essayist,  whose  characterizations  of  public  men 
have  gained  him  a  world-wide  fame,  is  a  Ken- 
tuekian,  Eugene  Newman,  "  Savoyard."  Orig- 
inally published  in  newspapers,  "  Savoyard's 
Essays  "  have  been  recently  collected  and  is- 
sued in  book  form. 

In  present-day  scholarship  William  B. 
Smith  of  Tulane,  Crawford  IT.  Toy  of  Har- 
vard, Noah  K.  Davis  of  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia, Tx.  W.  Deering  of  Western  "Reserve,  and 
M.  M.  Dawson.  a  translator  of  Norwegian,  are 
prominent  names. 

Kentucky  can  claim  one  of  the  two  or  three 


188     Kentuckians  in  History  and  Literature 

persons  in  America  who  are  investigating  the 
science  known  as  anthropo-geography.  Ellen 
C.  Semple,  born  in  Louisville,  educated  at  Vas- 
sar  and  the  University  of  Leipzig,  is  the  woman 
who  has  given  to  the  world  the  results  of  her 
researches  in  this  science  in  a  book  entitled 
"  American  History  and  Its  Geographic  Con- 
ditions." This  work  deals  with  history  philo- 
sophically. 

Genuine  humor  mixed  with  a  kindly,  world- 
wise  philosophy,  is  best  represented  by  George 
Horace  Lorimer,  editor-in-chief  of  the  Satur- 
day Evening  Post.  Mr.  Lorimer  was  born  in 
Kentucky,  the  son  of  a  distinguished  Baptist 
clergyman,  and  was  educated  at  Colby  and 
Yale.  "  Letters  from  a  Self-Made  Merchant 
to  His  Son  "  and  "  Old  Gorgon  Graham  "  were 
appreciated  over  all  the  English-reading 
world. 

At  the  present  time  five  historical  works, 
dealing  with  Kentuckians  and  Kentucky,  are 
in  preparation.  Henry  Watterson  is  laboring 
on  his  long-delayed  life  of  Lincoln;  Thomas 
H.  Clay  was  preparing  an  account  of  his 
illustrious  grandfather  for  the  American 
Crisis  Biographies,  when  he  died  in  the 
midst  of  his  labors,  leaving  them  to  be 
finished  by  another  hand;  Charles  Fennell  is 
engaged  on  the  life,  writings,  and  speech.es  of 
Thomas  F.  Marshall ;  and  Prof.  Robert  M.  Mo- 


One  Word  More  189 

Elroy,  of  Princeton,  author  of  "  The  Mexican 
War,"  is  compiling  a  history  of  his  native 
State,  Kentucky. 

One  may  readily  see  that  ihe  accusation 
made  by  a  prominent  man,  "  Kentucky  is  pro- 
ducing nothing  but  light  literature,"  is  wholly 
unfounded.  The  truth  is,  Kentuckians  are 
yearly  enriching  American  history  by  their 
contributions  to  it. 


FINIS 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


f*M  j 

JAN  J-  2    19. 
-  ^ 


RECEIV 
-    LD-UR- 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


JUL  6-  1( 


AM 
7-4 


4.9 


Form  L9  —  15m-10,'48  I 


UCSOUTHtRNR 

•111 

000019102 


